Slayers: Final
by Tom the Mighty
Summary: A crossover fic between Slayers and Final Fantasy. . .but not in the way one would expect. . .rn(Rated for Violence - Language)
1. Default Chapter

Slayers: Final   
  
Draft One.  
  
The Mysterious Priest Rides Again  
  
Disclaimer--The usual, I don't own any of the characters from Square Enix and Kadokawa Publishing.  
  
The two warriors stood ready, weapons in hand. Their eyes fixed on the prize to the victor, their faces expressing pure lust and hunger. Around them, spectators stood in fear and awe in anticipation of the upcoming carnage, edging closer for a good view but staying far enough back to avoid injury. For they have seen it before and always one of the warriors wins but also, always the battlefield would be always laid to waste. The city guardsmen fingered their swords nervously. This time it may be different, for this time it will be the last time. The last time, on the last battleground for the last porkchop.   
  
Someone in the crowd coughed, disrupting the eerie silence that had enveloped the resturaunt for a good. . .oh. . let's say. . . .fifteen minutes now. To the two duelists the cough was the same as a gunshot starting a race. In a flash the two lunged for the piece of meat, forks and knives in front of their extended arms. The utensils clashed. Sparks flew, dishes shattered and somewhere in a little corner on the far side of the diner, the manager began to fill out insurance forms.   
  
Suddenly the fight for extra portions was interrupted. The two fighters' silverware had become so entangled with each other as to resemble a shoestring knot. Half a heartbeat later they tossed away the useless tangle of metal and resorted to hand to hand.   
  
At least they were about to. A concerned but very foolish employee had decided to take it upon himself to save his means of employment and the last in the towns' eating establishment (and thus his job) by removing the fought after chop. Bad, bad idea. The resulting "Diru Brandou" an earth spell in the shamanism field of magic reduced the eatery into a lumber yard by creating an explosive upheaval of dirt and rock.   
  
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Three days later...  
  
So here we are, 25 miles from here to the nearest city and still being chased by a mercenary band calling themselves the "Culinary Avengers". But at least they are nowhere in sight for now. Maybe Gourry and I can take a breather.   
  
"Hold up Gourry," I said. He looks as tired as I feel. Three days of nearly non-stop fleeing will do that to you I suppose. Especially if you are carrying about 500 gold pieces, mess supplies, spare clothing, toiletries and two fairily weighty daggers. Fleeing...If only I had my magical powers back I could show those poofy-hat freaks I can do more than just flee! But being that time of the month...my magic energy just won't work to full capacity, I can still cast a simple illumanation spell but that will not help me much right now.  
  
"About time," Gourry said in a weary voice. "I have never seen such a determined group of bounty hunters in my life; I mean it was only the 37th resturaunt that you blew up! They still have a whole continent left!"  
  
We sat down on a downed tree near a stream about a mile from the road. The forest was thick with tangled willows knarled oaks and beeches but even if we couldn't see anyone coming, we would sure be able to hear them. But that would work both ways too...this forest is carpeted with branches and leaves. The mid day sun shone here and there through the sparse openings in the canopy, making the woods seem somewhat dark and foreboding. But to me and Gourry, forest equals food, so we don't really worry about appearances that much.  
  
"No kidding! You'd think that they think we are trying to destroy fine dining in its (its) entirety! If only I could get them to listen to me and explain that I am only culling out the eateries that offer poor service and too few portions..." It was true...mostly. Almost every eating establishment we had been to either ran out of food, tried to make us leave before we were done or was just flat-out rude to us. Like it was OUR fault that a few peices of furniture and china were broken while we played our almost ritual 'Food Duel' every meal? Apparently people in this continent had never heard the term 'insurance'.  
  
"Lina, wanna go catch some fish while I go find some tubers or mushrooms or something?"  
  
Gourry...he has been my constant companion for...it must be 3 and a half years now. Wow, that long... At first he was just a mercenary I had met who decided to protect me until I got to Atlus city on our continent. Now...I don't know what he is to me. A friend? Definently. But what is the blonde swordsman to me now? Whoa...I haven't really thought like this since we were in the Katahto temple in search of a Clare Bible manuscript, a powerful tome of sorcerry that contains magiacl revelations from the world of the Demons and the Gods. But then the Demon Dragon King Gaav kind of interrupted that train of thought but trying to kill us all to disrupt his former master's plans, HellMaster Phibrizo. But why did they start now I wonder? Oh! I can think about it later! It's time for some fishing!  
  
"Sure thing Gourry, I think I saw some edible shrooms about 50 yards back the way we came." With that we set out on our appointed tasks. When I got to the stream I pulled out a long strand of hair and magically strengthened it to be a suitable fishing line. Even in my current magically weakend state, I can still pull off some small cantrips like this.   
  
Why do I stay with him? At first it was to get his Sword of Light, Gorun Nova, a very rare and powerful weapon created by the Dark Lord Dugradigdo otherwise known as DarkStar. But that kinda went away fairly quickly, I just kidded him about the sword ever since the first incident in Sairaag. Ever since then we just kinda stuck together. ..Maybe because I am in lov-  
  
SNAP!  
  
What was that?   
  
CRACK!  
  
"Gourry?" I whispered, hoping he was near by right about now.   
  
"There you are little girl!"  
  
"AHHH!! DIRU BRANDOU!!!" Whoops.  
  
"Diru Brandou? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"  
  
It was one of the Culinary Avengers in all of his poofy hatted glory...sheesh. He was a portly man of around forty with an overly ornate chef's uniform. But being somewhat fat apparently doesn't matter to the avengers as I found out. They were hellbent on getting vengence for all of the resturaunts I uhhh...remodeled.   
  
"No matter. Your incoherent blabbering will get you nowhere in the face of gourmet justice! No more will you destroy those who would serve overly small amounts of food for exuberant prices!! TREEEEMBLE as you face the POTATO MASHER of JUSTICE!!"   
  
Wow. I'm glad I don't have the bodyweight of a blue whale strapped to my stomach. I wonder if he and a certain princess of Seyruun I know are related? Crazy or not, though, he does look intent on hurting me. But that's what these new daggers Gourry got for me are for. It's times of the month like this I can use my new combat training to its fullest. My straight-edged dagger in my left hand, the curved-bladed weapon in my right. I eased my body into a combat stance, left leg in front of my body, slightly bent for a sudden spring in any direction if needed. Daggers in a reverse grip, right hand tucked in close ready to spring for some slashing action. Left hand held halfway infront of me leveled at my clavicle ready to turn aside any attack. I stood ready to confront a man in a poofy hat, armed with a potato masher. Albeit a dangerous looking potato masher...are those nails imbedded into it?  
  
"Well, if you are looking for a fight, you've found the right woman." I put in as much moxy as I could at the moment. Considering that Gourry and I are having as much trouble as we are with these...characters, I wasn't in the mood to fight even one without my powers or Gourry. But seeing as my "Protector" is nowhere to be found, I guess it can't be helped. Despite his appearance, he is still a merc, not some lowly bandit I can stomp in my sleep.  
  
I stepped up to him just out of his striking distance. Gourry said always look at your opponents eyes. The eyes will tell you what you adversary will do next. His steel gaze drifted slightly to my right. He moved faster than I thought possible with his carriage, he almost made the 5 foot distance between us before I could react. And react I did. Just as he was about to strike at my right shoulder I sidestepped to my left sticking out a foot to trip him up and bashing the back of his head with the pommels of my daggers. The results were as expected.   
  
"Too EASY!" It was! We never had it this easy fighting them before! Of course we were always outnumbered...  
  
I plopped down on him and upon searching his wallet I was 25 gold pieces richer. Yipee. That might pay for a few plates of food...somewhere that hasn't heard of the name Lina Inverse. But that is fast becoming difficult due to the rate of my. . .mishaps. Wow, I'm actually worried that my name is spreading.   
  
RUSTLE.  
  
Oh, great...  
  
I looked around and found myself surrounded by the rest of the Culinary Avengers in all of their gaudy glory. Nice, I think I need Gourry with me right about now. Great they are closing in, maybe I can rush through them before there aren't any more gaps between them...  
  
Just as I was about to move I heard it. Something I have not heard for nearly four years . . . something I could have lived without ever hearing again . . . .  
  
"Oooohohohoohohohohoo!"  
  
It can't be. . . .  
  
"What was that?" That was one of the mercs now looking decidely nervous...buddy, I would be more than just nervous if I were you.  
  
The merc band was now ignoring me for the most part, just an occaisional glance my way to see that I was not trying anything cute. They were, however, scanning the area with darting eyes and hushed warnings to eachother. They made their kitchen-esque weapons ready.   
  
Then, there she was. I couldn't believe it, I still can hardly believe it's true. But there she was, looking just as I left her all that time ago. She was standing between a pair of close growing trees, hands on her hips with her always present arrogant grin on her lips, clad in a distasteful black leather bikini with spiked shoulder guards and black cape. Her raven-hair and overly large and gelatinous breast swaying in the slight breeze. . .nobody has any right to be stacked as good as Naga. . .  
  
"I see you need the help of I, NAGA THE WHITE SERPENT, once again Lina Inverse!"  
  
"NAGA!?! What are YOU doing here!?!" I was stunned. What the hell WAS she doing here?  
  
"She's with the Enemy of Fine Dining! Get her!" Exclaimed one of the poofy-hat-ted jerks. "You two, take her down," the apparent leader gestured to the two goons closest to the udder-chested sorceress.   
  
They made their move toward her. But they didn't realise Naga had already made her move. Her incantation complete, she only spoke the word of power to send the gourmet killers a death on the rocks via multiple "freeze arrow". The magically conjured icicles of the water shamanism variety first impaled the unfortunate cooks and then encased them in ice as if it weren't enough to just stab them.  
  
The mercenaries, now completley unhinged, they charged at the smirking mad woman, weapons/food prepartory tools raised to turn her into some macabre main entree. But once again Naga was ready for them.   
  
"Bephis Bring!" She called out as she slammed an open palm to the earth, calling forth Bephis one the greater earth spirits that earth shamansim derives its power from, to open a fifteen foot wide, impossibly deep hole in the ground. The doomed mercenaries were caught unaware and were now falling to their deaths.  
  
All, but one that is. Some how one of the Avengers managed to sneak around Naga and was about to deliver a devastating blow with his razor edged spatula.   
  
Suddenly he jerked spasmodically, his eyes widening in horror as he looked slowly down to the protruding peice of steel sticking out of his chest. The steel disapeared. The merc dropped. Gourry now stood in his place looking grim as he always did when forced to kill.   
  
"Are you alright miss?" he asked Naga, who was looking more than a bit flustered at the sight of the handsome man. I don't like this one bit. No siree Bob. Not one bit at all.  
  
"Of course! None can defeat the White Serpent so easily! True beauty can't die in such a manner!" She's looking much more composed now, though I can detect just a hint of nervousness in her eyes. Heh. Naga WAS caught off guard there. That isn't like her.  
  
"Good- Oh, hey Lina!" He didn't know I was here did he?  
  
"'Hey Lina', MY ASS! Where were you!? I was almost- I almost had to take them all on by myself! AND I HAVEN'T EATEN YET!!" That was close, you can't show any weakness in front of Naga, she'll rib you for weeks if you do.   
  
"Oh, I was searching for some mushrooms for lunch, but then I got the feeling you where in trouble and then I heard some commotion and started heading your way. Before I knew it, I saw that guy about to brain this weird looking lady and had to do something about it." He did know...huh must be that animal-like instinct of his I can't understand . Oh, crap! Stop blushing Lina! Awww, nuts, that look in her eyes. She caught it. And Gourry, of course, is happily oblivious.  
  
"Anyways...," he said, "Who is this oddly dressed woman?"   
  
"I see you've found someone whose total blindness to beauty is equivilant to yours, Lina." Naga didn't look too perturbed, in fact she seemed to be in full flaunt mode with the way she is drawing back her hips and sticking out her chest. She is probably used to snide comments about her manner of dressing.   
  
"Gourry, this is Naga the White Serpent, Naga for short, I traveled with her for a couple of years and she ran off in fright just before I met you."  
  
"...Fright!?"  
  
"Shut-up, I'm introducing you, anyways, as you can see, she dresses like a slut, is a sloppy spell caster, a drunk and her only decent use is as a meat shield."  
  
"Sloppy Spellcaster!? SLOPPY SPELLCASTER!!? I'll have you know, Mr. Gourry, that I am Lina's most powerful and beautiful rival!"  
  
"Rival!? Are you still going on about that!? Who ran away all scared just because I mastered a spell that harnesses the power of the Lord of Nightmares!?" She is just the Dark Lord above all Dark Lords after all. . . hehehe.  
  
"I'll admit that I ran away, but I was not frightened of your Giggle Slave! I just ran off because I needed to get away from your spell greedy eyes to create a spell so powerful that even you would admit defeat!"  
  
"Oh, really? And that's GIGA Slave!"  
  
"Really, here it is...THE VOUS VRYMR MEGA!!" A new variation on the earth shamanism spell to summon a stone golem, huh? Naga always seemed to be experimenting with that spell for some reason or another. The earth shook, the sky darkened, wind ripped leaves from the trees...well basically all hell broke loose. Naga standing there in the midst of it all, seemingly immune to the chaos all around us. As for me and Gourry, we are barely keeping our feet on the ground. Dirt and rocks rising form the ground seemed to come together in a vaguely ovoid lump, two long and spindly arms appeared, two feet with...no legs? The dust is clearing, let's get a good look at what Naga has created THIS time. Ugh...that has to be the ugliest thing I have ever seen...its face heck, it's all face! two close-set beady eyes, a very large nose and mustache and a wide gaping smile...is that a bowler ontop of its head!?   
  
"Naga...what the HELL is that thing!?" I demanded.  
  
"The source of your demise, Lina-chan!"  
  
"Mr. Tuberhead!?"   
  
"What was that, Gourry!?"  
  
"It looks like Mr. Tuberhead! I used to have one when I was a kid! You could open up its mouth and different face parts would come out like ears, eyes and mouths and you could arrange his face into all kinds of..."  
  
"Ok, ok, I got you..." Sheesh, I guess he only remembers things that he cares about...I wonder how much space I take up in Gourry's memory banks? "But, anyways...Naga? Why are you assaulting me with a giant replica of a child's toy!?"   
  
"A child's toy!? I'll have you know that I found the basis for this work of ART inside of an ancient tome I found in the ruins of Sairaag!" She pulled out a ragged looking peice of paper and promptly thrusted it into my face.   
  
"Naga? This is an advertisment for a MR. TUBERHEAD DOLL FOR OCTUBERFEST 1389!! THAT WAS ONLY 5 YEARS AGO!!"  
  
"Never mind the details! Watch as it beats you into submission!"  
  
'Watch' as it beats me...?  
  
"Whatever...Gourry, you can deal with this one."  
  
"Right!" He unsheathed his broadsword, took a stance and stared at his target looking for any opening, any weakness. His gaze softened, his shoulders drooped and he said to me...  
  
"Lina, I can't do it...I can't attack a childhood friend who has yet to attack me."  
  
"Ch-ch-chi-childhood friend!? It's a ROCK GOLEM! No matter what cool sounding words she added to the Vous Vrymr spell it is still a sloppily made piece of trash! And besides that! I don't care if it does look like a Mr. Tuberhead doll! It couldn't have been as big as a house! So now go get it! Turn it into shoestring fries or something!"  
  
"Ahhh...why'd you have to go and mention food? We STILL haven't eaten yet."  
  
"The faster you trash that monstrousity the faster we can eat!"  
  
He turned to the Tuberhead simarrilicon with a fierce intensity I have not seen since the battle against Dark Star. After all, we haven't really seen anything that looks this threatening in some time.  
  
"No matter if you were dear to me in my youth...you stand between me and what my heart craves most. My name is Gourry Gabrieve, you're blocking my meal, prepare to die."   
  
"Now, let's see what this 'monstrocity' can do, Lina!" Naga seemed confident, more confident than she should with her golem looking like that. I doubt it, but maybe there is more to this than meets the eye. Gourry, apparently taking to heart what I said about Naga's workmanship jumped at the uber-spud and was promptly swallowed by it. I blinked in disbelief. I blinked again. The tuber had a disturbingly pleasant smile on its face, like it was saying, "pleased to meet you!".   
  
"What the!? Gourry!! What the hell did you do to him Naga!?"  
  
"I didn't do anything. The Golem did! Your boy toy should be trapped inside, unharmed by the way, so now that we can settle this Woman to tomboy!"  
  
I was completely taken aback, since when has Naga ever shown she has a brain even a third the size of those overgrown melons attatched to her chest?   
  
"You mean to say, that the spell you said was a match for the Giga Slave was simply a ruse to make me fight you fair? Will you let Gourry go if I promise he won't interfere?"  
  
"No way, Lina, I'm not letting anything get in my way this time."   
  
Damn. There is something odd about her. She seems to be oddly focused. Like she really means to finish it this time.  
  
"But why now, Naga? I thought you gave up on being my rival, what about all that time we traveled together?"  
  
"I was merely studying your techniques and attack patterns my dear Lina. Now that I have mastered even more powerful magic I will finally take my place as the most powe-"  
  
"Diru Brandou!"  
  
"AAAAEEEEIIIIII......" She trailed off as she flew through the air amid dirt and forest debris. She landed about a minute later, looking a tad dazzed. I swear, one of these days. . .   
  
"Now will you let Gourry go?"  
  
"Mm..Fine...ooohhh...Flow Break...." With those words of power the golem disintegrated revealing a very freaked-out looking Gourry.  
  
"Th-t-that was just like a dream I had when I was eight! Hold me!" He latched onto my chest.  
  
"Ahhh...watch where you're grabbing, Gourry!"   
  
"I'm scared!"  
  
"Come on, get a hold of your self! You're supposed to be MY protector, not the other way around!"  
  
"Oh? And what would Lina Inverse need a protector for? Hmmmm?" Here we go again...  
  
"It's not like I had a choice, Naga." I said as I frantically tried to pound the big oaf off of me. "He kinda latched onto me a few years back and..."  
  
"A few years? Seems to me like you'd be more than just friends if he has 'protected' you for that long." She had a sly grin and evil look in her eye.  
  
"...Well...hey what's that?" I pointed to a sign I have not noticed before and apparantly no one else had either. It looked fairly new, with just a trace of weather damage. It read, "All you can eat Dinatorium! Just one Copper piece! Boat to the resturaunt is at Phobus Port!".   
  
"A dream come true! Come on, Gourry, we haven't found a deal like this for years!"  
  
"Right!" He finally detached himeself from my waist and looked 100% less pitiful and more like the self-proclaimed protector I grew to love. Whoa, did I just think that? I remember all of the times other people could tell how I felt about him...and how I quickly and probably not too convincingly rebuked them...why? Why can't I tell him? I remember cuddling up against him when he was asleep in the temple of the water dragon king...I don't know if I could of done that if he was awake. Shoot...I've been unthinkingly staring into his eyes...I wonder if Naga has noticed...  
  
"What's wrong Lina? Do I have something on my face?" AHHCK! How did jellyfish brains notice!? He NEVER notices! And what's more, Naga has that knowing smile on her face...she'll probably use it to her advantage in some horribly convoluted way. But, Gourry can take care of himself for the most part.   
  
"Oh no, nothing! Uh, let's go! To full bellies and flabbergasted chiefs!"  
  
"You're not getting away from me this time, Lina Inverse! I'll follow you once again and this time I WILL find a weakness!"  
  
"Whatever, Naga." With that we set off to Phobus Port. Gourry and I chattered nonstop about what we hoped there is to eat at this "All you can eat Dinatorium" while Naga accasionally joined in. Strange, she isn't nearly as talkative as she used to be...I wonder what happened to her in the last four years? Ah well, I can ask her some other time, it doesn't look like she'll stop following me anytime soon...  
  
Elsewhere....a man was making his way through a different forest. . .  
  
I'm being hunted. No doubt about it. The fleeting movements out the corner of my eyes. The dead silence where there should be birds singing, animals going about their daily routine. It has been like this for 4 days now. I thought it may have been wary townsfolk keeping an eye on a strange creature, but I have been outside any borders for 2 days now.   
  
It may be time for the hunter to become the hunted.   
  
There, an outcropping of granite. I should blend in nicely once I remove my cloak and throw in some natural debris. Now to wait for my hunter/prey.   
  
There he -- she is. My stalker is a woman huh? Well, no matter. Strange, she does not have her weapon drawn. It looks to be a short bow. With a full quiver of arrows. Not much armor, just a studded leather shirt and a wrist guard to protect against the bowstring. She seems to have...a few magical wards too, one on her belt, one tied around her slender neck, the other on her other wirst like a bracelet...oh, no. I looked downed at my cantine and I saw an exact replica of the bracelet the woman wore tied around the neck of it. It was the one she gave me before I left for my journey.  
  
No way.   
  
She couldn't have! This has to be a mistake! Not even she would be so reckless...! I have to make sure though...maybe this woman just looks like her.   
  
I'll wait for her to just walk me by unnoticed. NOW!   
  
"WAAAHK!" Aw, dammit. It's her alright, no one screams like that but her.   
  
"Amelia! relax, it's me, Zelgadis!" I said as I tried to calm the flailing limbs of a frighteningly energentic AND frightened young woman. If she keeps this up she'll probably hurt herself...whoops there she goes...  
  
"...Mister...Zelgadis?" She sounds more embarrassed than injured.  
  
"Amelia, what are you doing here?" I asked as sternly as I could manage at the moment...how does she do this to me?  
  
"Well...I...uh..." She may have grown up physically as she seems to be as tall as I am now...how'd that happen? but she is still a kid it looks on the inside.  
  
"Does Phil know you're here? What about Seyruun? Wouldn't the kingdom be in an uproar if they found out yet ANOTHER one of it's heirs ran off?" Maybe I pushed it a little too far...but she could've gotten hurt.  
  
"Ooohhh...your're right Mister Zelgadis. I was stupid going after you. But, I wanted to help you! And I thought I could do that better if I were with you than being holed up in the castle. Don't worry though! I have a team of devoted scholars looking for possible cures for your body day and night! After all! It isn't just that you have to do this all alone!"   
  
"So why all the secrecy? You could have met up with me anytime these last few days."  
  
"AHCK! You knew?!"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"I...uh...didn't know if you would like me coming with you or not, so I was coming up with a speech to sway you..." She's still into overly long and dramatic speeches, huh?  
  
"Sway me?"  
  
"Because you were always so distant when it came to finding your cure, I didn't want you to turn me away!" What's with that look in her eyes? Hope?   
  
"Please don't make me go back Zelgadis, I came all this way, I was sure I could help you somehow! " She really must be desperate to stay if she forgot the "Mister".  
  
"Yeesh...alright all alright...but! I can't promise it will be easy...you will have to follow my rules, you will be taught how to sneak properly and...ah hell, Amelia this is bugging me."  
  
"What is?"  
  
"What is with the bow?"  
  
"Oh this?"  
  
"You don't have any other bows strapped across your back do you?"   
  
"Well, ever since I first saw Galvaira, that DarkStar longbow from half a year ago? I became quite taken with it. And since my black and shamanistic magic skills aren't really up to par with Miss Lina's I decided to practice to compliment my other skills. I decided on a short bow, because long bows were taller than I was at the time." Yeah, I rememer the DarkStar weapons; made by the demon himself, they transfer ones will into an energy weapon capable of even slicing through dimensions. . .  
  
"OK, let's see how good you are then. It is a fine bow. Are those runes of power I see engraved unto it?"  
  
"Yes! My own design! They help steady my aim when things get a little hectic. Watch this!" This should be interesting. "Ok, Mr. Zelgadis, would please grab those 3 rocks to your left. Thank you, now throw them as fast as you can in any direction you want to." Whoa. This IS going to be interesting!  
  
"Alright, here it goes!" One high to her right, one down low to her left and one straight up. What the? Hail? There isn't a cloud in the sky. . .oh. . .wow. . .that ain't hail. . . those were the rocks she had targeted.  
  
"When did you..how...huh?" Sputtering is not something I like to do, especially infront of her . . .  
  
"Not bad, huh?" When I first met her, she was a mediocre martial artist more prone to hurting herself than the bad guys but she more than made up for it with her heart and the confusion wrought upon her enemies that always followed her patented "Justice Speeches" helped too. As we traveled she became a better fighter, less clumsy, more lethal but still wasn't a match for any of our traveling companions. Her specialty is white magic, healing magic, and she has no small skill in shamanism. But now, now it seems she may be able to hold her own in battle, without having to watch out for her she may not be as bad a burden as I thought she would.   
  
"Like I said, I practiced, a lot (a lot). Whoa!" She slipped on her own pile of recently made gravel and landed face down infront of me. . .I guess some things never change. . .  
  
I helped her to her feet. "You okay? Good...Well, at least I won't be want for company on my travels...as rare as that is of course!" Idiot. "Anyways, I suppose I had better tell you where I am headed. There are rumors of a smart-ass Sorceress and idiot swordsman wrecking havoc upon this continents fine dining establishments."  
  
"You mean?!"   
  
"Who else could it be? Well, I have been hired out to find them and put a stop to them before this land runs out of places to eat. Don't worry, I don't plan to hurt them or anything, I doubt I could. But I figure if I can get them to hold off on destroying anymore diners for a while, we could split the reward money and I wouldn't mine seeing those two walking implements of destruction again." It's true, I've grown attatched to them, even if they do drag me into trouble on the apocalyptic scale whenever I run into them.   
  
"Only Miss Lina and Mr. Gourry could unwittingly wind up targets of mercenary bands while doing what is normal for them..."  
  
"Yeah, but at least our continent is desensitized to it." Indeed, every resteraunt in our neck of the woods has heard of Lina Inverse.  
  
"So where were they last seen?"  
  
"Headed north, towards the port of Phobus. My employer seemed like he especially wanted me to find them...there was something odd about him and someting strangely familiar...ah well, I don't plan on hurting them so what does it matter?"  
  
CRICK!  
  
"Hide!" I whispered to Amelia. We ducked under a root-entangled outcropping of rocks, well hidden and with a more or less clear view of the small rock strewn clearing we just escaped from.   
  
"What is it?" Amelia didn't seem to unnerved like she used to be in unknowned situations. Maybe she is growing up in more than just physical ways.   
  
My chimaric body, one third demon, rock golem and human allowed for senses more refined than that of a normal human. Sure I got power like I wanted when I realized my limitations as a swordsman at an early age. But at the cost of my humanity. . . .  
  
"Five men. All armed with a kind of sword. They should be coming into your field of vision in a few minutes, can you disarm them from this range?"  
  
"Yes, I believe so. I just have to disarm them, right? I mean, I don't have to kill them?"  
  
"Yes, after all, we don't know if they are after us or not." But, as experience will tell, they are more than likely after me . . ."You just take out their weapons and I'll confront them. Ready? Here they come."  
  
"Ready!" They came into view, from a closer half-mile distance, I could easily make out fine details like facial scars and food stains on their clothing. They had the air of bandits about them.   
  
"Where did she go?" The tallest and most armored of the group asked.  
  
"I dunno, boss. The tracks lead here!" A squat and whiny voiced bandit stammered.   
  
Five twangs of her bowstring later. . .  
  
"DAMMIT! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!"  
  
"Hell is where you will be going if you don't tell me why you are here." I said as I seemingly appeared out of nowhere in front of them thanks to my demon-enhanced speed. I didn't draw my sword, they were already disarmed and were too afraid to do anything anyway. Though it would be interesting to see how much more frightened they could get if I did draw my blade.  
  
"What the! Wha- wha-"  
  
"ANSWER my question!"   
  
"We- we are on a hunting trip." The leader must either think he can get away this easily or I'm stupid.   
  
"Really, not many hunt with just blades, tell me, where are your bows?"  
  
"Alright, we were after a demon seen wandering in these parts!"  
  
Simple farm boys. . . .  
  
"And that made you want to follow me?"  
  
"Well, yeah. I mean look at you! If you aren't a demon then what are you? If my wife that ugly, people would think I were gay!"   
  
Rage. That is the only thing I can describe what I felt then, blind, animalistic rage. How dare they judge me!? I did nothing to them and they saw fit to insult me and track us down like BEAST!  
  
"BLOODY WIND!" The word of power realeased a flurry of chaotic and compressed paper-thin air and dirt. The effect was as bloody as the spell's named advertised. Something inside of me stirred. A smile of satisfaction found its way onto my face...I quickly resumed my stony expression and pushed down the unsettling feelings. The rage dissipated and I regained my senses. I looked at the torn bodies and rent trees courtesy of my air shamanism spell and felt the stirrings of regret, an emotion coming less often to me lately. Did I have to kill them in such a painful manner...did I even have to kill them at all...I can ponder this later...  
  
"Amelia! You can come out now!" I shouted towards her direction. She came walking slowly, looking like she was going to be sick. Well, considering the shape of the would-be heroes' bodies I guess it can't be helped.   
  
"If you can, I would like you to help me search the bodies."  
  
"What for? Money?" She seemed even more pale than she was just a moment ago.  
  
"That and any documents they might have. Things like contracts or wanted posters with my face on it." Their is still a chance they might be mercs.  
  
"Your face? What did you do Mr. Zelgadis!?"  
  
"Nothing! It's just...well you know. With a body like mine..."  
  
"Oh, Mr. Zelgaids...I'm sorry, I didn't think-"  
  
"Don't worry about it. You know who I really am. I'll just have to put up with the rest of civilization until I can find a cure." And quickly too, I am becoming too violent whenever I run into highway men or monsters...I used to be able to get by with trashing them a little but not kill them...lately it seems like I enjoy the killing...the smell of blood...the taste of fear. My only saving grace is that I can distinguish the change in me as of yet...but what if I can't down the line...what if it gets to the point where I attack anything that even looks at me funny. Maybe that is why I have been avoiding towns and villages more than usual as of late. Except to get new supplies I haven't been able to bring myself near civilization of almost any kind.  
  
"Amelia. If I start acting strange, I want you to stop me, ok?"  
  
"Why? What's wrong Mr. Zelgadis?"  
  
"I- I don't really know for sure. But for now we should search the bandits and see if they have anything of use." I can't tell her what I believe they really were...I can't do that to her. I can't let her know what I am becoming...I have to get my cure...  
  
"...Right." She didn't seem to convinced, but she didn't press any further.  
  
"Anyways...they don't seem to have anything of interest on them...nothing recognizable anymore at the least . . ." Lying to her like this is making me sick..."So. . .let's go and let's keep a sharper eye out for trouble."  
  
"Ok, Mr. Zelgadis. It'll be great to see Miss Lina and Mr. Gourry again! And who knows? Maybe Mr. Xellos will be there too!"  
  
"Xellos? Why would you want to see him?" I shuddered out the mention of that demon. Whenever Xellos is around it only meant trouble in the most ridiculous manner possible. Usually involving wild goose chases and bizzarre costumes. . .uughh. That and the fact that he seems to have taken a liking in embarrassing me whenever he can. Ah well, if we run into him maybe I can show him a thing or two about revenge.  
  
"I dunno, I mean he isn't THAT bad. I just think that if we are going to see Lina and Gourry, Xellos should be there too, even Miss Filia and little Valgaav if possible." We started to head in a generally northern direction. We'd hit a town , asked for directions and try to get to Phobus before Lina and Gourry leave or get too far.  
  
"Filia I wouldn't mind, though, I don't think she would be too happy meeting Xellos anytime soon." If that crazy, manic-depressive, mace wielding dragon priestess hated two things it was perverts and Xellos. . .in that order.   
  
"Hey, Mr. Zelgadis?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"We are still a week away from Phobus, do you think you can teach me how to sneak around like you? I mean, I don't want to be a burden or anything..."  
  
". . .Ah yeah, I did say that I would, huh?...first things first. . ."  
  
A week later. . .our other group of heroes is finally in Phobus.  
  
"This is great! In a few minutes we will be dining on an unlimited smorgasborg of our dreams!"   
  
"I can smell it form here...mmmmmm. . . ." Gourry's now drool-soaked mouth spoke our feelings clearly enough so that no one refused our ascension to the front of the ferry that had just left Phobus's main port and is now headed toward the ridiculously cheap "All You Can Eat Dinatorium for One Copper."   
  
"What are you going to eat first, Gourry?" He always has great ideas on food.  
  
"Hmmm...good question. If they have any roast beef, I'll take that first."  
  
"Damn straight! You can always tell the general quality of a resturaunt by the quality of their meat! Hey, what's this? There are menus on the ferry!" I excitedly grabbed the one from on top the pile near the main cabin. I opened the menu and my heart stopped. It couldn't be...but it is! It really is!  
  
"Lina..."  
  
"Gourry..."  
  
"CONTINUOUSLY PREPARED LAKE DRAGON CUISINE!!!" We exclaimed together. Suddenly we found ourselves dancing a silly little jig in our excitemnet.  
  
"At least it isn't the 'Octopus dance' this time." She is refering to my run-in with a hypnoptis we ran into on one of our adventures. The hypnoptis had a bizarre ability to make you believe you were back in your home town and usually during a festival, too. In my case, my homeland of Zephillia was celebrating the biggest grape harvest in years and all of the young virgins would crush grapes with their bare feet to get the juice for Zephillias wor'd reknowned wine. Needless to say, without any grapes to crush I looked a tad ridiculous.  
  
"Oh! Hi Naga! You wouldn't believe what they have in the menu! Continuously prepared dragon cuisine! I didn't know they had dragon cuisine on this side of the world!"   
  
"Is that all? I used to eat dragon cuisine at least once a month when I was a child." She seemed a little too nostalgic to be lying.  
  
"W-w-what!?" Only the very wealthy or royalty could get a rare and very expensive dish on a monthly basis! But, Naga? Royalty? No, not her. Even if she does enjoy the finer things in life more than the rest of us, there is no way a member of ANY royal family could get away with wearing what she does. Well, maybe in Xoana. But she doesn't look anything like Martina or her father.  
  
"Lina, I see the island!" Gourry quickly grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the ferry's ramp in a hungered frenzy before Naga could explain herself. Oh well, she and I can talk later when she is uproarously drunk so she'll talk more freely. We descended the ramp with a considerable lead on everyone else and found ourselves....on a deserted island...with no All You Can Eat Dinatorium....not even a whiff of dragon cuisine...no food at all...  
  
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!!!?!??!?!?"   
  
"Food? Fooooood?" Gourry seemed to be in a state of shock, I don't blame him.  
  
"Now what have you gotten me into, Lina Inverse!?   
  
"Dragon cuisine...no dragon cuisine..." I didn't feel like argueing with Naga. All I wanted was my full course dragon cuisine. With lake dragon...with flavor so rich and full bodied that it would make the tongues of kings who graced it moane with pleasure...  
  
"Really, what have you gotten us into this time, Lina."  
  
That voice...  
  
"Zel! Amelia! Why are you here?" I embraced Amelia and slapped Zel on the back with painful results. I keep on forgetting about that stone skin of his. . .  
  
"Well, Miss Lina, we heard about a 'Smart-ass Soceress' and 'Dumb-ass Swordsman' who were destroying this continents' eating establishments and we decided to track you down. We haven't seen each other in some time so we thought we could all get togeth...er...Gracia?" She seemed shocked, stunned, overjoyed, hopeful, disblieving and on the verge of crying all at the same time.  
  
"Gracia?" I turned towards where she was staring and found myself staring at-  
  
"Well, it seems that they are all here." I turned quickly to face the new speaker. There were two of them. A tall man with fire-red hair standing straight up as if it really were fire. He had a medium build to him. He wore a crimson robe with gold trim. His eyes were blazing red also. His companion was short and squat. He wore ocean blue trousers and jacket. His eyes were sky blue.   
  
"Indeed. Just as Mihn-di told us." Said the blue one.   
  
"Who are you!?" I demanded. They obviously had something to do with this.   
  
"Are you here for the all you can eat buffet, too?" Asked the almost too simple man that I love.  
  
"Wha-! Uh...no. I am afraid that we have come to put an end to your worlds plans to oppose us. You will be the first to die."   
  
"By the way, my name is Ragnazzo and my partner is called Cagnazzo. We are the General Preist to BeastMaster Kari and Deep Sea Krakken, respectevely." If they are General Preists like Xellos, Beast Master Zellas main flunky, they must be very powerful, more powerful than I think we can withstand for long...  
  
"This world!? BeastMaster Kari, Deep Sea Krakken!? What the hell are you talking about!?" That would be Zelgadis.   
  
"Oh, you don't know do you? Well, it doesn't matter, you can all die anyways!"   
  
What the!? A light enveloped us. We found ourselves inside of a tunnel made of multi-colored lights...this reminded me too much of the time Naga and I magically went back in time to save a village of elves. Of course Naga is probably enjoying this a little too much like she did last time.  
  
"Ooooohohohohoho!" Indeed.  
  
Our bodies distorted and twisted unnaturally in this apparent interdimensional portal. Zelgadis, looked bored, as usual. Amelia looked like she was going to vomit. Gourry held onto me around my waist for dear life. It seemed like an eternity traveling in the swirling tunnel of colors, I thought I was going to go mad. Until suddenly...  
  
"Ouch! What the-?" We were no longer in the tunnel. Instead we found ourselves in a meadow clearing. To the north were mountains, south it looked to be a desert in the distance. East and West there were forest. We all looked very confused. Gourry and Zelgadis drew their swords. Amelia and I prepared some defensive spells. We have no idea where we are, this could be trap. Naga just seemed to be scanning the area with an odd grin on her lips.   
  
"Oh my! It seems like all of the pieces are in place!" That voice. . .  
  
"Xellos!?"  
  
To be continued...  
  
Author's notes:  
  
Well, that was a long opening chapter, wasn't it? In case you haven't been able to tell just yet, this is a Final Fantasy/Slayers crossover fic. That does not necessarilly mean that it will take place in an established FF world though. . . Anyways, for those of you confused about the "Bloody Wind" spell, it is simply artisic licsence on the spell "Buhdy Wind" which Zelgadis used in the second episode of Slayers Next. I don't plan for all of the chapters to be this long, but they will be pretty lengthy as a whole. Stay tuned next time for new characters and a gory battle scene, YAY! GORE! 


	2. Chapter 2

Slayers: Final  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before, the day I make money off of this is the day I get sued.  
  
Chapter 2My Magic Won't Work!? It isn't that Time of the Month!  
  
"Xellos!?" We all exclaimed together. There he was sitting on a lofty branch on a tree not 5 feet away from us.   
  
"What are you doing here!?" Snarled a very angry looking Zel. He never liked the demon, do to the fact that Xellos seemed to torment him with false leads to his cure.  
  
"Come now, Mr. Zelgadis! Is that anyway to greet a dear friend?" Xellos, said as he teleported himself from the branch to the ground right in front of me. The demon in the guise of a human Priest seemed the same as always. Page boy hair cut, dark trousers, beige shirt, green cape and a staff with a large ruby colored orb affixed on top.   
  
"You're no friend of ours!"  
  
"Awww, you're no fun. Ms. Lina likes me though, right?" He almost seemed sincere . . . almost. Demons could care less if they are liked or not. In fact they prefer to be feared as they feed off of negative mortal emotions. But Xellos, he gets his meals out of the bizarre and ridiculous situations he puts us in and feeds off of the embarrassment, fear, and even the anger and tension that result from being with someone you don't like.   
  
"Just tell us what's going on, Xellos." We had better be careful around him. He has an infuriating ability to not tell the whole truth without ever lying.  
  
"Well, as your new friends you, you are targets."  
  
"Targets of whom?" Asked a shaken looking Amelia, who seemed to be recovering from shock. Naga, oddly enough, stood protectively over her. I have to ask what the hell is going on between those two, later though, now we have ours lives to worry about.  
  
"Well, to say it simply, demons. Demons of a different universe that ours."  
  
"You mean like when we fought against DorkStar?"  
  
"That's DARKStar, jellyfish for brains!" Gourry really had the most selective memory I have ever seen in a person. But, he does seem to remember important things about us . . .   
  
"In a matter of speaking," continued Xellos, "But instead of just one Dark Lord gone crazy you get one Dark Lord who has yet to be revived and 4 Demon Lords plus their General Priest, as it seems they all share Mistress Zellas's line of thinking, and you get to play with their minions too!"   
  
"But why us? Don't fool with us Xellos! Why are they after us, specifically?" Zelgadis seemed a little more edgy as of late. I thought he was getting used to Xellos too . . .   
  
"Because the remaining Demon Lords of our world, Deep Sea Dolphin, Dynast Grauscherra and my mistress Greater Beast Zellas have come up with a plan."  
  
"A plan?" I asked.  
  
"Yes, I had better start at the beginning."  
  
Two hours later . . .   
  
"Well, I'm glad you have decided to explain what is going on and all, Xellos. But why'd you make us gather firewood and roast smores?" Xellos could be just plain weird sometimes.  
  
"It's more atmospheric this way! Nothing heightens the tension of a good story like a camp fire! And nothing creates more nightmares like a good story and a belly full of chocolate!" Xellos, saying this all with a cheery smile, as usual, was more open with his demon hood than he was when we first met him all those years ago, two I think. When he passing himself off as 'Xellos, the Mysterious Priest'.  
  
"Whatever just- Naga! What are you and Amelia doing?" They were sitting down infront of each other playing some game involving hand claps and rhyming.   
  
"Oh, I didn't tell you did I Miss Lina? This is my older sister, Gracia Ul Naga de Seyruun."  
  
"The crown princess!?" Zelgadis seemed somewhat surprised to hear that.   
  
"Oooohohohohoho!" Everyone stared blankly at Naga for a moment and then to Amelia for an explanation.  
  
"What?" She seemed to believe that laughing like a maniac was perfectly normal. But then, she does belong to the weirdest royal family I know.   
  
"Naga! Why didn't you tell me you are a princess!?" I asked.   
  
"Well, you never asked about my past, Lina, and besides, I though my noble upbringing was clear as glass to anyone."   
  
"N-noble . . . ugh . . . Amelia is starting to look more like you, I guess." The resemblance was clear. They both have high fore heads, sharp slightly upturned noses and large angular eyes. They have the same raven hair color too.   
  
"But why did you run away, Naga?" Gourry asked. To which Zel slapped him upside the head and whispered to him NOT to bring THAT subject up. But it was too late, the damage had been done.   
  
"I-I . . . I don't need to explain myself to Lina's flunkies!"  
  
"Gracia! We are not her flunkies. We are her friends!" Amelia seemed a little upset.  
  
"That name has little meaning to me now, little sister. I am Naga the White Serpent!" She looked insane and haunted by something at the same time.  
  
"The 'white serpent'? Amelia echoed.  
  
"Save it! We still don't know why we are here, so why don't we just let Xellos tell his story, okay?" As much as I would love to beat Naga's face in right now, we still need to know what is going on. Besides we have smores! Naga let off an indignant "hmpf!" and sat herself down on a log facing away from the fire. Amelia looked as if she was going to head over in her direction but stopped and sat herself down to but so that Xellos and Naga were in her field of vision.  
  
"Thank you, Ms. Lina." Xellos didn't look too upset. He was probably enjoying his little dark emotion snack just then.   
  
"Ok, you all know, except for Ms. Naga, that the Overworlders built a gateway to bring the dark lord Darkstar over to our world right? Well, because of DarkStar's extended stay inside of the gate, the gate itself has been altered." DarkStar . . . the remaining people of the dark lord DarkStar's universe had come to ours to build a gate to bring him to our world. To do that they needed five "DarkStar Weapons" that the demon had created. 2 to open the gate. Two more to close it and because they gate was designed as a weapon itself, cut DarkStar into five pieces so they could fight and destroy Darkstar at only 1/5 power. The last weapon would be used to destroy DarkStar as it was the most powerful, Galvaira. But it didn't go as planned. The psychotically angry demodragon Valgaav, betrayed the overworlders and opened the gate before all of the weapons were found. Luckily the overworlders shut the gate before DarkStar was all of the way through. But he wasn't divided. So Darkstar was trapped inside of the gateway for some weeks before he broke loose. With his god fused with demon energy, it is no wonder the gateway was altered.  
  
"Altered, how?" Zelgadis asked.  
  
"Instead of leading to DarkStar's universe, it leads to a previously unknown one. A relatively young one in the grand scheme of things."  
  
"An unknown universe..." Any sorceress worth her salt, knows that there are universes other than our own. What they don't know, I am not sure that anyone but myself and the Gods and Demons know that they were all created by the Lord of Nightmares, otherwise known as the Golden Lord. But I though she had only created four universes. Ours, headed by Ciephied, the universe terrorized by DarkStar, and the two universes the dark lords Chaotic Blue and Death Cloud are trying to destroy.   
  
Xellos continued. "A young universe, but one with very ambitious demons. You see, they have also noticed the gateway and they have decided to use it to launch an invasion into our world. They have sent in spies, they know that the demon hierarchy has been considerably reduced as of late. And that the Gods have not been fairing too well either. So they, outnumbering us considerably, have decided to take over our world to add to their control of theirs."  
  
"You mean they have already conquered their universe?"   
  
"More or less. They have managed to seal their Gods into Crystals, thus rendering them unable to protect the peoples of their world. But, the people have been putting up quite a resistance. They took the crystals while the demons were complacent having just defeated the gods, and the built temples to shelter them in. But the temples are not just for worship, they are also military bases that focus the crystal's power to aid in their war with the demons. But, despite all of that, the demon lords of that world are confident that they will crush the resistance and have already decided to take over ours."  
  
"Who were those creepy guys from before? They had the air of demons about them." Amelia seemed more than a little distraught, but it was understandable with all that's been happening to her these last few hours. Zelgadis, surprisingly, put a comforting arm over her shoulders and she responded by taking his hand with hers.   
  
"They are demons. Like they said, the red fellow is Ragnazzo, general priest to my mistresses counterpart, BeastMaster Kari. The other blue man is the G-P to Deep Sea Dolphin's counterpart, Deep Sea Krakken."  
  
"Then, I am to assume that Phibrizzo, Gaav, Dynast and Shabranigdo all have equals in this world to?" He said they were out numbered.  
  
"Yes, there is HellMaster Lich, Chaos Dragon Tiamat and Chaotic Black Bardradigdo. They all have just one general priest as well. The only one missing is the Dynast Garland who, as far as our spies have told us, is a nonfactor due to his disappearance."  
  
"How does a dark lord just disappear?"   
  
"From what we have gathered, the Dynast had been the first one to touch the gateway. Apparently the gate had changed him in some form or another and he had a falling out with the other demon lords and simply disappeared."   
  
"Do you know what had happened to him?"  
  
"Now that is a secret!"  
  
We all collectively groaned...even though we knew he would let loose his catch phrase eventually.   
  
"So why are they after us? Ragnazzo mentioned that someone named Mihn-Di gave them the info on where we would be."  
  
"Mihn-Di is a lackey to the Chaos Dragon. She and her cohorts Sihn-Di and Sahn-Di are the primary sources of information of our world to the demon lords. They are very sneaky and have the ability to shape shift." Wow, demons in general can only take one form for their duration in the physical plane. Only a very powerful demon or one who has a very powerful master can change form in our plane.   
  
"They found out some information from some of our...less than loyal underlings."  
  
"What kind of information?" Zel seems to be getting more suspicious all of the time.  
  
"They found out Lord BeastMaster's plan to use our own worst enemies against us."  
  
"Worst enemies...you mean!?"   
  
"Why yes, Ms. Amelia. I mean this happy little bunch of demon slayers." Odd how he still smiles as he says that.  
  
"Well, I am glad someone has not forgotten Naga the White Serpent in your plans!" Here we go...  
  
"Oh yes! That reminds me! Who is this delightful looking lady, Miss Lina?" He looked oddly, excited about Naga. He also seemed to be...satisfied? What goes on inside that abnormal head of those two anyways?  
  
"Oh, her? That would be Naga. She used to follow me around like goldfish poop all of the time before I met everyone else here. She thinks of herself as my rival but in reality she is an obnoxious drunk."  
  
"As always it seems that Lina's small perspective on things equals that of her small chest!"   
  
"You can say that again..."  
  
"Gourry! Who's side are you on anyways!?" I said as I slapped him upside the head with my special slapping slipper I keep in my pocket for such occasions.  
  
"Relax, Lina! I was just trying to lighten the mood..."  
  
"At MY expense!?"   
  
"Well you are an easy target..."  
  
"Ahem..."That would be Zel getting impatient."Anyways, before we were interrupted by tasteless jokes, I believe that Xellos was explaining some things that may be paramount to our survival."  
  
"Indeed. Like I said, Lord BeastMaster came up with a plan to use you against the demon lords."  
  
"What!?"   
  
"We did some of our own espionage and discovered the locations of all of the crystal's temples. What's more is that people have some silly prophecy about the "Light Warriors" coming to each temple and gaining some of the power of the entrapped gods. So...we lured you to the gateway and brought you to this world so you can destroy the demonic hierarchy!"  
  
"..."  
  
Pandemonium ensued. Amelia looked as though she would faint. Zelgadis seemed to be on the verge of an explosion. Gourry looked stupefied as usual. Naga just started to laugh for no apparent reason. And I, well, I had Xellos in a headlock.   
  
"WHAT THE HELL!? You guys just decided to dump us in another universe and make us fight your battles for you!?"   
  
"Well, it's not as though we didn't try any other methods! We tried to fight them head on but even though they are relatively young demons and have only 2/3's the power of myself they still outnumber us. We already lost hundreds of lesser demons and Sherra was ruined too." He said as he was struggling to break out of my grasp. Demon or no, no one pisses off Lina Inverse and gets away with it.  
  
"You bastard! What makes you think we will help you!?"   
  
"Well, my fine Mr. Zelgadis. Besides the fact that OUR world is about to be taken over by another universe's demons, it seems that our Lord Dynast has a plan that is even MORE risky than using you guys."  
  
"What would that be?"  
  
"Ever hear of the Demon's Fang?"  
  
"...the Demon's Fang...No! It can't be! I thought it was only a legend!"  
  
"Oh, it is real alright, Miss Lina, and Lord Dynast has found it for use if you should fail."  
  
"...What do we have to do?"  
  
"Lina?"   
  
"Trust me, Zel. If our only choices are between us and the Demon's Fang, I would definently choose us."  
  
"What is the Demon's Fang?"  
  
"Well, Gourry, I don't expect you to remember all of this but at least try to pay attention, the multi verse's very existence may depend on it."  
  
"Right, well, since you seem to know about it, I'll let you explain, Miss Lina."  
  
"Ok, we all know about the Lord of Nightmares, right?"  
  
"A Dark Lord beyond that of Shabranigdo, right?"  
  
"And the monster that almost took you away from me."  
  
Gourry . . .  
  
"Well, yes, but there something else . . . she is the one created the sea of chaos, she is the Mother of all things."  
  
"WHAT!", everyone exclaimed. Not too surprising though, considering what they had just learned.  
  
"She created every universe and in every universe she left a piece of herself. In our case it is the Demon's Fang. It is a tangible piece of the Sea of Chaos itself. If anyone were to use its power, there is a greater chance of all creation returning to our Mother than if I used the Giga Slave. "  
  
"Yes, but there is still a chance that it can be controlled, and if anyone can it is Lord Dynast. But do not worry, Mistress BeastMaster and Mistress Dolphin have convinced him to hold off until you defeat them or otherwise. But ever since Sherra was ruined he is running low on patience."  
  
"So how much time do we have?" I asked.  
  
"About five hundred seventy three years."  
  
"Oh. Well, since time isn't really an issue, let's just figure out where we are and how far the nearest town is. Oh and Xellos?"  
  
"Yes, Miss Lina?"  
  
"YOU OWE ME A FULL COURSE DRAGON CUISINE DINNER!!"  
  
"What's that rumbling?"  
  
"Oh, that would be my stomach, Amelia." Xellos suddenly vanished out from under me. "Son of a. b-." He always gets himself out of these kinds of situations.  
  
"It's coming from the ground..." Gourry had his head to the ground. "It's getting closer."  
  
"Amelia!" Zel was near a tall tree."  
  
"Right!" Amelia headed over to him and he gave her a boost to the nearest branch. She climbed about 3/4s of the way up and scanned the area were Gourry said the noise was coming from.   
  
"Uhhh...Miss Lina?"  
  
"Yes, Amelia?"  
  
"There seems to be a horde of trolls headed this way."  
  
"What!? How many?" Trolls aren't too smart, but they have amazing regenerative capabilities. But nothing a fire ball or two shouldn't take care of.  
  
"About 30."  
  
"Ok then, stay up there. Zel, Naga come with me. Gourry you wait here. Reiwing!"  
  
Nothing happened...this ain't right.  
  
"Let me try. Reiwing!" Zel couldn't get the spell to work either.  
  
"What's wrong, Lina? Can't you and your friends cast a simple reiwing spell? Reiwing!" Not so unexpectably, Naga failed. "What?"  
  
"I know what it is!" Gourry suddenly piped in.  
  
"What is it Gour- Wait! Don't you dare!" If he says it I'll bash his brains in before the trolls even get here.  
  
"It must be that time of the month!"  
  
WHACK!  
  
I hit that warped head of his with a slipper I keep in my pocket just for such occasions.  
  
"FIRST of all, Gourry, it is NOT that time of the month for me, and what are the chances of all three of us having it at the same time!?"  
  
"Well, you sure are acting like it!" He said as he rubbed his new found and richly deserved lump.  
  
"GAAAHHH!" I sometimes wonder why I love this doofus.  
  
"Enough of this, here they come!" Zelgadis unsheathed his long sword, the others did the same. Amelia began to shoot off arrows into the horde, not that she expected to kill any but just to slow them down a little.   
  
"Well, if we can't use magic then we will have to this the hard way. Trolls can be killed only by slashing its throat or decapitation." By slashing a trolls throat you can be sure that blood will run down into its lungs, the wound itself may heal but the monster will drown in its still remaining blood. Decapitation works because the glands which control regeneration are deep inside their brains.  
  
"Here they come! Defensive triangle!" Gourry may not know much about. . .well much, but he does know battle tactics. Being in a triangle would make sure the trolls would break around us like water on rocks thus letting us slash at them as they try to make their way past and around us. Gourry took the point of the formation.  
  
The trees infront of us wobbled as the trolls carelessly crashed their way through the small strip of forest. The rumbling grew so loud we could feel it in our guts. We all dropped to our respective battle stances. Here they come, the first wave of ten appeared from the foliage, charging as if their lives depended on it.   
  
20 yards.  
  
15.  
  
10.  
  
5.  
  
Clash!  
  
They ran into our position as if they didn't even know we were there. Gourry manage to decapitate one and cut off the arm of another in one blow. Naga and I, as we were behind Gourry, took the next two. I finished off the troll that Gourry had disarmed and Naga managed to slash the throat of the other. And so it went as Gourry took the first swings, Naga and I tried to take down what he couldn't get, while Amelia and Zel finished off the wounded. Zel seemed to be enjoying this immensely, playing with the doomed trolls like a cat would a mouse before doing them in. He even is going as far as shoving downed troll's faces into our still burning fire.  
  
The second wave is now headed our way, it looks to be the rest of them, twenty three. We reformed our triangle but instead of crashing into us like the previous trolls, these monsters split up into groups of 3 to 4 and began to surround us. They must of watched us decimate the last group with any injury to ourselves. We split into groups of two. Myself and Gourry taking on the three groups that had surrounded us and the rest to take on the four groups that had flanked them.   
  
We had fought together for over five years now, we knew how to compliment each other's movements to a tee. Plus we have been practicing together on short arm long arm combat. We stood at each other's backs. My twin daggers drawn close to me. Gourry had his broad sword in a low two handed guard. The trolls come at us. We bean to spin, our backs always together. Gourry defending us and attacking when he could while I slashed at the throats of the beasts. They didn't know what hit them. Trolls, being relatively stupid creatures, just could not figure out how to counter our spiral dance of death. We should be fine for now.  
  
Zel, Amelia and Naga seem to be handling themselves quite nicely. . . scratch that. Naga doesn't seem to be doing well at all. Why isn't she attacking!? All she is doing is ducking and dodging. Shit! Behind her!   
  
"Waah!" She screamed as she turned to face her new adversary. She plunged her short sword into the beast's stomach. The fool, it will recover in no time at all! And Gourry and I are still busy with our trolls!. Her only hope is Zel or Amelia, but they don't seem to be much better off than us! Blood gushed out of the troll's wound when Naga withdrew her sword, showering her in the ichor. She seemed to just freeze there. What is she doing!? Oh no, she fainted. The hell? She has never had problems fighting monsters before.   
  
"Zel! Amelia! Help Naga!" I screamed as I continued my attack. Damn! The troll is almost completely recovered. Zel and Amelia are no where near her yet.   
  
"Gourry! We have to try to move towards Naga!"   
  
"How!? We are still surrounded you know!" He said as he continued his defensive motions.  
  
"Damn it! If I only had my magic back!" The troll hovering over Naga's prone form grabbed his dropped club. He raised it for the killing blow.   
  
WHACK!  
  
"Naga!" She got showered in even more gore as the trolls heads suddenly exploded.   
  
"Xellos!?" There he was, floating roughly 20 yards above the battle field, a big smile still plastered to his face.   
  
"Hello!" He greeted us. He then dissolved into countless pitch black cones about the size of a five year old child's thumb. The cones zoomed through the remaining trolls. Some piercing through the beasts and others slashing their throats. Some of the cones came at trolls in such heavy concentration that the brutes literally exploded into crimson mist. It was over in but a few, very bloody, seconds. Xellos reformed infront of Naga.  
  
"Well, I see you have all figured out that your magic doesn't work in this world!"   
  
"You bastard! You knew!?" Zel didn't seem to be quite over his bloodlust just yet. Amelia wrapped her arm around his and shot Xellos a cold glare. Zel calmed down a bit as soon as he felt Amelia's arm. She withdrew and ran over to her sister who was still unconscious.   
  
"Of course I knew! But it wouldn't have been any fun if I just explained it to you. So I took the liberty of herding these trolls in your direction!"  
  
"You mean they weren't headed towards us originally?" Gourry asked while wiping his blade of troll blood on one of the fallen's hide shirt.  
  
"Nope! They were originally headed towards the base camp a short distance to the west, where BeastMaster Kari is gathering an army of beast men to assault the Temple of the Fire Crystal."  
  
"They found it?!" I asked.  
  
"Yes indeed. This will make things slightly more difficult. Here take these." He reached into his side satchel and pulled out five colored orbs. Very familiar looking orbs. . .  
  
"Hey. . . aren't those from that crazy marriage temple. The one that Jillas tricked us into going into?"  
  
"Well, yes. I figured there are some things that even the demons wouldn't want ANYONE to go through." True, in order to get into the temple we had to be paired up with a member of the opposite sex. The pairings were decided by spinning a level which would dispense a colored orb, who ever's orb matched yours is who you were paired up with. I got stuck with Zel, which wasn't too bad a thing, Amelia with Gourry, she seemed a bit upset that I got Zel though. And lastly Xellos had to be with the Priestess to the Fire Dragon God, Filia. Needless to say, those two did not get along very well. Xellos and Filia decided not to go into the temple rather than be stuck with each other. I suppose it is only natural for him to get rid of that embarrassing sideshow attraction.   
  
"Why are you giving us these things?"  
  
"Oh, I took it upon myself to change the wording on the parchments that the prophecy is written on."  
  
"The prophecy of the Light Warriors?"  
  
"Yes. I wrote in that the Light Warriors would be carrying orbs that represents the crystals."  
  
"I thought they're only four crystals though."  
  
"There is one more. The dark crystal. In its shrine there lies a piece of chaos much like the Demon's Fang on our world. Don't worry. Nobody knows where it is, yet. But they are looking for it. You see, the demons believe that the other crystals will lead them to the dark crystal, where their Dark Lord Chaotic Black is entrapped."  
  
"What!?"   
  
"Don't worry! I am sure you will find it before they do! You guys seem to have a knack for it."  
  
"Ooohohohohoho!"  
  
"It looks like Naga is better." Why she is laughing I have no idea.  
  
"Are you alright, Grac- Naga?" Amelia was still kneeling over the now sitting Naga. She seems worried. I am too. I have never seen Naga freak out in a fight before.   
  
"Of course I am! No mere troll can stand up to Naga the White Serpent!" she said while rising to full height.  
  
"Whatever you say Naga."  
  
Xellos began to hand out the crystals. Amelia got the yellow crystal for the wind crystal. Zel got the blue orb which stood for the water crystal. Gourry got the red orb for fire. Naga the green orb for earth. I got the black orb for the Dark Crystal.  
  
When he got to Naga, she extended her arm to grab the orb. She looked down and froze like she did during the fight.  
  
"Naga?" her sister asked.  
  
"So much blood. . ." she whispered so softly I couldn't clearly hear her, but Zelgadis filled me in later as he was standing close to Amelia at the time.   
  
"Naga, what is it?" Amelia pressed.  
  
Naga did not answer. Instead she shakily reached into her side purse and pulled out a flask. Her unsteady hand could barley get the container to her lips before the amber liquid was completely shaken out. She took a long swig and a few moments later she seemed to get her nerves back.   
  
"Lina! I need a bath! We must find a stream at once." Hmm. . . alcohol induced confidence, eh? Amelia left Naga's side and headed towards me.  
  
"Miss Lina, was Naga. . .always like this when you traveled together?" She talked low so that Naga would not hear her. But it didn't really matter since Naga was leading the group to find a stream and food.  
  
"Well, she seems to be a little more, I dunno, aggressive towards me."  
  
"I mean the drinking and the fainting."  
  
"Well Naga was always the drinker. Whenever we'd stop at an inn or tavern she'd have a bottle or two of the good stuff. She was really bad when I first met her though. She would actually mix two or three bottles of wine and brandy or some other liquor into a bucket sized tankard and down it as fast as you could blink. But she got better the more I traveled with her. Probably we always got into so much trouble she didn't have time to kill her brain cells that often. But now that I see her now. . . I have never seen her so unsteady, so shaken up."  
  
"Gracia. . .what happened to you. . .?"  
  
"The fainting thing is new to me though. . .oh, wait! I do remember her fainting briefly during a fight with some bandits. Our current client at the time gashed the bandit leader's cheek with his sword drawing blood, obviously, she fainted then. . . of course!" The answer was obvious now!  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Why Naga fainted! She is afraid of blood! Now that I think about it, she has NEVER drawn her sword in combat before. This time she had no choice, but whenever we fought bad guys or each other she always used magic. Not just any magic though, she seemed to use magic that would have the least chance of making her opponents bleed."  
  
"But why is she afraid of a little blood?"  
  
"I don't know, Amelia. Maybe that is something you should ask her."  
  
"I don't know if I can. She isn't like the big sister I used to know. I am not sure how to ask her."  
  
"Try liquoring her up. That usually worked when she was hiding the location of treasure of something like that from me."  
  
"Lina! I am really worried about her! Like I said, she seems like an entirely different person to me since I last saw her! I want to know what happened to her after our mother died."  
  
"I would like to know too, Miss Amelia. She is quite a dish. . ." He had a sick grin on his face, Naga must be really messed up if he is enjoying her this much.   
  
"This is no laughing matter Xellos! My sister will not be food to you, demon or no!" Amelia. . .she hardly ever has outburst like this.  
  
"I believe you forget, Miss Amelia. Every human is fair game to a demon. But, back to the matter at hand. After you guys to any provisions you may find out here, I would have you all head south." Amelia clenched her fist, she looked as if she would try to beat the crap out of Xellos. But instead she curtly about faced and trotted off to the others.  
  
I looked in that direction. I did not like what I saw. Not one bit. . .  
  
"Xellos, there is a DESERT TO THE SOUTH OF US!"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Okay, first you trick us into coming to this world, then you tell us that we have to fight an entire hierarchy of demons, next you don't bother to tell us that our magic is useless here and now, now you tell us we have to go through a desert, I CAN'T STAND HOT PLACES! Especially ones with no food, water, inns or BATHS! Do you realize how long I have had a bath! I must smell wonderful. . .ugh.   
  
"Like blood, dirt. . .and cumin! Man, I'm hungry. . ." Where did he come from?  
  
"I think we all smell like a third rate taco stand right now, Gourry. Come on, let's catch up with Naga, if anyone can find a hot spring, it's her. Oh! Xellos, why do you want us to go south?"  
  
"That would be a secret!" With that he withdrew to the astral plane. The cheeky bastard.   
  
Authors Notes: Yeah, um. . .that was pretty wordy, now wasn't it? Sorry about the grammar and spelling, Word Perfect sucks. Anyways. . .I think I am going over my head here with the character development but hey, we'll see if my limited command of the English language can handle it. Stay tuned next time for big yellow birds, Zelgadis musing and gratuitous nudity. 


	3. Chapter 3

Slayers: Final   
  
Chapter Three:  
  
"'Kweh'!? What kind of chicken says 'Kweh'?"  
  
It is our second day here in this new world. Despite the fact that we were tricked into coming here to fight a horde of demons, we are low on food and the fact that we have to cross a desert with no apparent destination, our stay hasn't been too bad. We even got to take out some thirty trolls. Spilling their blood was oddly exhilarating. I have not killed with my sword in a long time. Due to circumstances we do not yet understand, magic does not work here. We do not know if magic simply does not exist here or maybe it is our understanding of magic that is at fault. After all, this world does not have the same demons, spirits or gods of our world, so we cannot draw spells from them . . . unless. Lina . . . Lina may be able to cast at least two spells. She may not want to cast one of them, not that I blame her, not the other she can do relatively safely. I will have to ask her to try once we are not so busy.   
  
We are now hunting and gathering food, as well as searching for a hot spring . . . or at least a stream to bathe in at the behest of Princess Gracia Ul Naga de Seyruun, a.k.a. Naga the White Serpent, Amelia's older sister whom she has not seen in nearly a decade. Can't say that it was a very happy reunion, though? Amelia soon discovered that Naga has degenerated into a crazy drunk. One that refuses to be called her given name and seems to be afraid of the mere sight of blood. She is also very pompous and refers to us, Gourry, and I as Lina's lackeys. I don't care for the description but I bet Lina does. All the more reason to cram some sense into that alcohol soaked brain of hers. Not just for her sake, but . . . for Amelia's as well.   
  
"Come on, Mr. Zelgadis! We found a stream!"  
  
Amelia . . . the previously obnoxious girl who got in the way, now the competent woman who has grown to be a valuable ally. In combat and . . . otherwise . . . I used to be merely amused and sometimes annoyed at her antics. She was always so formal, even when being naive. She still calls everyone mister or misses before their names. She used to be so clumsy also. Always tripping over herself or falling from tree boughs she climbed for the ultimate dramatic effect for her patented 'justice speeches'. She still has her strong sense of justice. I think that is what originally, made her want to help look for a cure for my thrice damned chimeric body. But . . . the way she looks at me, the way she acts around me. I believe she may be something more.  
  
But, how can she even think of loving me? I'm a freak. Though I don't really believe her, she once said that I look cool the way I am now. I dunno about that. When I was fully human, I had been blessed with good looks, runs in the family I suppose. But now, with my aqua colored skin with the consistency of granite and patches of blue marble-like stone surrounding my cheeks, eyes and chin, I am a monster. Even my hair has been affected. Instead of the silky auburn locks I once had, there is now only silver wire. I have to use steel wool to bath for Ciephied's sake. Oh, the indignity.  
  
All because I wanted power. Oh, I got power all right. My grandfather, the 'Great Priest' Rezo, supposedly one of the great wise men of our age gave me this 'power' if I would help him find the Stone of Sages. The Stone of Sages, supposedly a part of the Staff of the Gods', had incredible power. It could amplify your innate magical abilities by many folds. Rezo told me he needed it to cure his blindness. I betrayed him for giving me this body and tried to take the stone for myself. Instead of getting the stone I found Lina and Gourry, we all got caught up in Rezo's true scheme. While he indeed wanted to cure his eyes, he wanted it so badly he decided the only way to be able to see was to use the Stone of Sages to resurrect one of the seven pieces of the Dark Lord, Shabranigdo, the devil of our world. He was expecting the demon would be revived inside the tower where the ceremony took place. He was wrong. The Ruby-Eyed lord was within Rezo's own blood as five thousand years ago, our God, Ciephied, broke Shabranigdo into seven pieces and hid them inside the blood of men in the hope that the Dark Lord's power would be diluted and eventually disappear over the centuries. But he was wrong, the piece overwhelmed us and Lina saved us only by using the forbidden spell, the Giga Slave, the spell which calls upon the Dark Lord above all Dark Lords . . . the Lord of Nightmares. But even then, it wasn't all Lina. Rezo had, apparently, seen the error of his ways while his soul was being devoured by the demon, he interfered with the Dark Lord just long enough for Lina to pull off the spell. But, even through all that, Rezo, obviously, did not regain his sight.   
  
It makes me wonder . . . if I will die in search of a cure that may not even exist, just as Rezo had. I wonder if I am cursed to raid tombs and hunt for relics that may not do a thing for my body. I had once met a monster who had once been human. He was murdering people from nearby villages because they shunned him. "They deny me, so I deny their existence" he said. He told me that in his futile search for a cure the wizard he was interrogating said that no one knew how to separate combined life forms. So the monster and I fought, I killed him. He said that because he faces death, he would be at peace and I would continue to live and despair in my fruitless search for a cure. I had replied, "I will live, but I will not despair."  
  
That was before I began to feel . . . fulfilled by killing. I had always enjoyed battle. Especially against marauding beast-men, monsters, and bandits. The excitement of being on the edge of life and death. The thrill of defeating your opponent through your skill and wits. I didn't have to kill intelligent creatures though, just knock them around enough to show them whose boss. But, I have been showing less and less regard for sentient life as of late. I have killed, humans, beast-men, hell, I have even killed a golden dragon once. At first I passed them off as accidents resulting from the heat of battle. But it happened more and more often, I began to realize that I enjoy it. It makes me sick. But, with Amelia here with me, the violent urges have let down. I still let loose when I fight, as Lina seemed to notice after the battle with the trolls but I don't have the insatiable bloodlust I had while traveling alone. Maybe, maybe Amelia is my cure . . . if not for my body, then my mind. To thank her, I must find a way to make Naga her sister again . . . my humanity depends on it.  
  
"Are you coming or not, Zel!?" Lina yelled at me. She was some distance away, hand in hand with Gourry. Even though, they have yet to admit it, they love each other dearly. I wonder if I will ever be able to tell Amelia that I too, love her. But that will have to wait, indefinently, until I become human again. Oh well, I can dwell on this later. Even though, I don't sweat as other people do, my skin does tend to grow moss. . .the indignity of it all. . .   
  
I headed over to them and we then, with a dominant-minded Naga leading the way, headed off to the stream she had found. It was a small stream, no more than five yards across and only six feet deep at the most, but it looked clean and refreshing.   
  
"Source of all power, crimson heat, gather as light within my hand. . .FIREBALL!" Naga, momentarily forgetting about our current lack of spell casting ability, looked a bit ridiculous with her arms and hands outstretched as if she actually launched the spell. I suppose she was trying to heat up the stream for our bath.   
  
"Regardless, I am still going first!" She still looks like she is going to be sick, despite the facade she is providing for our, or her own, benefit. She shooed us behind a thick wall of foliage so she could bath in private. Amelia, she looks as if she is gathering courage for something.   
  
"Wait up Naga!" she called.  
  
"I prefer to bathe alone, dear sister." Naga's eyes had a look of finality that even Amelia, so worried about her, couldn't disobey."  
  
"Come on, we can go look for some food now. We can find a way to get through to her after we have finished preparing for the evening," I put my arm around her shoulders, though I can't imagine it would be too comfortable with at least twenty-five pounds of granite draped over your back, but she seemed to cheer up a little.  
  
"We? You'll help, Mr. Zelgadis?"   
  
"Of course I will, I mean. . .uh, well, non of us can stand seeing you this way, moping around like this. It is you, usually, who tries to keep us happy. I'm just returning the favor." My, that was clunky.  
  
"Zel's right! We need you as our morale support, not the other way around!" Lina. . .oh, she winked. She must have caught on about my feelings for Amelia. At least she isn't teasing me about it like she used to. Maybe it is because she has finally found love, or at least admitted to herself, in Gourry. But they still haven't admitted it to us yet.   
  
"Yeah, really. With out you, we'd all be as gloomy as Zel here." Gee, thank you Gourry.  
  
"Oh, Mr. Zelgadis isn't gloomy! He is just serious all the time. All though. . .I suppose that isn't much better. . .."  
  
"Whose side our you on, anyways?" Here we go again, I have become their own personal diversion, once again.  
  
"Come on, Zel! It doesn't hurt to smile every once in a while. You face is going to get stuck in that perpetual frown of yours. I don't think that Amelia would want you to wear that good face around your children!"  
  
"WHAT!?" Amelia and I exclaimed. How could she be so forward?! I guess the teasing isn't done just yet. Time for some pay back.   
  
"What about you and Gourry?"  
  
Her face darkened, "What about me and Gourry?"  
  
Amelia decided to join in, "How long have you two been together? Four? Five years now? When are you going to tie the knot? We are starting to worry."  
  
"Wha. . .wha . . .", it's working. Lina is stuttering in red-faced embarrassment and Gourry is standing in a state somewhere between shock and confusion. This is perfect. I can almost see why Xellos loves tormenting us so much. We have to be the most overemotional humanoid schmorgasborg he has ever come across.  
  
"I wonder what YOUR kids will look like? Big, tall and dumb? Or maybe short flat and smart-assed?" She's getting angry now. Good. Gourry is just looking at me as if to say, "What the hell is wrong with you?". Well, hell if I know, but I am enjoying this immensely.  
  
"Mr. Zelgadis, that is enough! We were just teasing each other a little. You don't need to be this viscous!" She is angry at me? I thought she wanted revenge against those two?   
  
"What is wrong, Amelia? I thought . . ."  
  
"I know what's wrong with you Mr. Zelgadis. I have been watching you over these last few weeks together with you." She knows, huh?   
  
"Come on, I want to talk with you alone." She turned to a still sputtering Lina and Gourry. "I am sorry but, would you mind if you leave Mr. Zelgadis and I alone, please?"  
  
"Like hell! I'm gonna crack that stone skin of his and see what's inside!" I guess I hit a nerve, heheh. Gourry, put his hand on Lina's shoulder, she jumped and turned around to tell him off but he gave her this stern but understanding look.   
  
"Come on, Lina. Naga should be about done by now, let's go get a bath, and then we can eat!"   
  
She took a deep breath, well, several actually until she calmed herself down.   
  
"Ok, Gourry. Maybe Amelia can fix whatever is broken inside that spiky head of his."  
  
With that they headed off to the stream, leaving me alone with Amelia and whatever wildlife we haven't scared away yet with our fight.   
  
"Come here, Zelgadis." Amelia, sat down on a fallen log and gestured for me to sit with her. I complied, as I probably will not be able to stand on straight legs if this talk is going to be about what I think it is.  
  
"How are you feeling right now?" How am I feeling? Angry, scared, confused.  
  
"Alright, I guess."  
  
"No your not. I want you to be honest with me." Her eyes pierced into mine, judging me, even though I know that is not her intention.  
  
"I. . .I don't know how I feel right now. . ." Which is true, for the most part. I don't know if I feel, glad that she is trying to help me or indignant that she is butting in on my own problems.  
  
"Ok, then tell me how you felt during our little fight just now."  
  
"Well, I. . .this is stupid, what are you, a psychologist, now?"  
  
"Just tell me, please!"  
  
"Fine. I felt like. . .I don't know. . .like I had to make them pay. I didn't want to hurt them at first, but the expressions on their faces just got better and better, I had to push it."  
  
"But they are our friends, we both know that they are touchy about their relationship, you didn't have to-"  
  
"Dammit! I know that, Amelia! I couldn't help it! Just like I couldn't help killing those stupid farm-boys!" Whoops. Here it comes. . ..  
  
"Those. . .farm-boys?" She lowered her head in thought. . .her eyes widened in realization of what I meant.   
  
"No. . .Mr. Zelgadis. . .it. . .it can't be true! You mean that they weren't bandits!?" She looked horrified and concerned at the same time.   
  
"It is, Amelia. I killed them because they hunted me, they insulted me, because I wanted to them to scream! I hate this, Amelia! I hate what I am becoming! I hate Rezo, I hate chimeras, I hate me!"  
  
"It is true then. . .,"she whispered though my demon-enhanced hearing picked it up easily. What is true, then?   
  
"I didn't want to tell you, not then and especially not now, you have enough to worry about with your sister and all."  
  
"Maybe, but I care about you too, as much as I do Gracia. You are losing yourself, Zelgadis. How long has it been like this?"  
  
"Almost a year now. . ." Well, ever since I had gotten this body, but it has been a year since it started getting this bad.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me the truth about the farmers and yourself when it happened?"  
  
"You would have. . .ran away from me. I need you, Amelia! When I am around you, I don't care about my body! Even my deranged bloodlust is sated when you are near. It was a mistake to leave you in Seyruun all that time ago, I see that now. Maybe if you were with me, so many would still be alive." I haven't bared my soul like this to anyone before. . .feels good, in a way. I wonder how Amelia feels about me confessing to murder, though.. . ..  
  
"Oh, Zelgadis. . .I didn't know it was this horrible," Her eyes, now rimmed with moisture, looked upon me with pity I don't deserve. I could have prevented those people's deaths if I were stronger. "We will find a cure for you, Zelgadis. Even if it takes the rest of our lives to find it," The rest of our lives. . .? "But first we have to find you a way to control your violent urges. If my theory is correct, your demon third is taking sway over your human third, right?"  
  
"Yes, I believe so."  
  
"Now, here me out. . .demons use humans as food, right? But not food, as in literally eating us, they feed off of our negative emotions like fear, anger, sadness and such," Everything that is anathema to you, Amelia. "So, I think, that your demon third is trying to feed. That is why you have been doing all of these awful things as of late."  
  
"That makes sense. But how do we plan to fix it? Somehow remove that part of me?"  
  
"I don't know if we can do that. . .I don't think it is even possible. But, I think I know how to keep it under control!" She seems confident, maybe she is really on to something?  
  
"We are going to stuff you silly with food so that all you is satisfied!"  
  
"Gah!" I momentarily picked myself off of the ground, in which I unconsciously tried to plant my face. "Um, how about in reality?"  
  
"Well, we could find you something to do while to keep your mind off things. I know! Do you still have your navigation tools?"  
  
"Yes, I do, actually." One of the things I am actually thankful to Rezo for giving me is to navigate. All I need is a compass and a Sun Position Telescope and a map and I can triangulate where I am to a fairly accurate degree. Pretty useful when traveling the wilds.   
  
"Good! Why don't you chart this new world for us? It'll keep you from getting bored and it will help us from getting too lost, at least in places we have already been to though. . ."  
  
"No, I think you are right, Amelia. Besides, we may have to come back here someday. After all, this is where we got dumped onto this world."  
  
"Thank you, Amelia. . ." Maybe things will be alright, at least, for a little while.  
  
"Come on now, let's go find some food. I still want to try my food theory."  
  
"THAT DAMNED ZELGADIS! How DARE he!" How dare he say that to me in front of Gourry. . .he has an uncanny ability to figure out things. . .despite they way he acts outwardly. I'm not ready yet. . .  
  
"Calm down, Lina. I think Zel may be battling some personal demons. . ."  
  
"Personal demons. . .? You mean like, he did something or had something done to him in the past?"  
  
"Yeah, that and his own personal demon."  
  
"Huh? What do you mean?"  
  
"Zel is a chimera, right? So that means he has a bunch of other things living in him, right?"  
  
"It would be better to say that they live together as one organism but please continue."  
  
"Well, he has a demon living with him, right?"  
  
"He is a third, brow-demon." Brow-demons are much lower on the demonic hierarchy, but a demon is still a demon, none the less.  
  
"So, I think that the demon is fighting Zel."  
  
"You mean that Zel's human side is being taken over by the demon?"  
  
"Yeah!"  
  
"Gourry, you are amazing!" How does he figure out this stuff? He even figured out that Xellos is a demon before any of us too. Must be animal instinct. "Now we just have to figure out how to help him. . .but we can do that later. We need to get cleaned up and find some food. Besides, I'll bet Amelia is trying her best to help him. We'll just go with whatever she has planned."  
  
"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, Amelia has had some pretty bizarre schemes in the past. . ."  
  
"But she has grown up since then, Gourry! Come on, she is a Shrine Maiden AND Princess of the White Magic capital of the world, Seyruun! If anyone can figure out a way to help Zel, it would be her. We both know how much time she spent looking for a cure, all that knowledge she gained couldn't all have been for nothing."  
  
Gourry, starting looking around for something. "Hey, we're at the stream, so where'd did that rival of yours go?" He started to wonder around the general area.  
  
"Who knows, probably off to go get drunk again. I don't know what is up with her. If memory serves, she'll pop up in the place we least suspect." I started to undress. "You still here, Gourry?"  
  
"Hey, I'm over on the other side of these rocks, why?" I looked over to the bank of the river. There's a decent sized rock outcropping standing between us, so I think that our modesty is in no danger at the moment. But still, what if he suddenly comes from around the rocks? It's exciting, in a way. . .ACK! No time for thoughts like these! Especially with him literally just around the corner.  
  
"O-oh, n-nothing!" Smooth, Lina Inverse, smooth.  
  
"Ok, well I'm going to take a bath now." This is too much. . .he is getting naked right behind those rocks! I don't think I have the courage I had that one time about a year ago. . .when I was determined I was going to share a room, and possibly a bed, with Gourry, but he wasn't even in his hotel room at the time and I haven't been able to muster enough guts to try it again.   
  
"Same here, uh. . .no peeking!"  
  
"Right, right, I know. I'd probably pay for it in the most painful way imaginable." Maybe not, Gourry. . .but he isn't that way. . .he is too damned chilverous, which, contradictorily, is one of the things I love about him. I remember the time when I was stabbed by Zelgadis, when we were still enemies, Gourry wouldn't let me walk and insisted on carrying me to the closest inn. I wasn't sure if I should be embarrassed or flattered that he cared enough about me to do that, after all, I did use him as a decoy so I could cast spells at bandits, spells which he got caught in frequently, back then. Or the time when we had to share a room and he refused to sleep on the bed if a girl had to sleep on the floor, we both wound up sleeping on the deck that night, but I was touched yet again by his selflessness. There are so many other instances of his knightly nature. GAH! This water is cold! I really wish I had at least some of my powers right about now. . .  
  
"Waah! AHH! COOOOOOOLD!"   
  
I guess Gourry just found out about the temperature of the stream, too. . .  
  
"Ooohohohohoho!"  
  
"AH! Oh, it's only you, Naga."  
  
"Lina!" Gourry!? He's, he's. . .coming to rescue me from Naga in his birthday suit. . ..Stop staring, Lina!   
  
"I see that you both share some 'little' things in common, Lina-chan.! Ooohohohoho!"  
  
"Hey! The water's cold, that's all. . ." Poor Gourry. . .  
  
"Yeah, not everyone is endowed with gonads the size of watermelons, you know!"  
  
"I'm serious, it's just the water. . ." Gourry, now peeking out behind some half submerged rocks looking more than a little embarrassed. But what about me?! I'm standing stark naked only waist deep in this stream! Whatever, it's not like he hasn't seen me naked before, after all the times he barged in my room or bath with some type of emergency. Besides, I saw his, too. I'll consider that as making us even.  
  
"Never mind that, Gourry. Naga! Where the hell have you been? I was afraid we where going to have to come looking for you."  
  
"Since when do I need your permission to go anywhere, Lina Inverse?"  
  
"Well, I, never, but it would be nice if you'd at least tell us that you are going to be wondering off." Why is she being so difficult?  
  
"Hey. . .Naga? Would you mine turning around for a few minutes? I need to get some clothes on."  
  
"I'm not taking orders from Lina, then I am certainly not taken orders from her concubine!"  
  
"NAGA! What the hell is the matter with you!? You've never acted like this before!"  
  
"Yeah! I'm not a porcupine!" Only you, Gourry. . ..  
  
"I was too soft on you Lina. In the past I let our friendship get in the way of our rivalry. But no more. Now I am completely dedicated to taking the crown of greatest Sorceress in the world from you, by any means necessary." Her eyes said what little her words did not. She is deadly serious about this, I just hope she doesn't do anything to get someone or herself hurt. "But lack of magic at the moment has put that on hold. Let's get some food, Lina-chan."   
  
Huh? What's with the sudden mood swing? One minute she is practically threatening my life, the next she's acting all friendly? What's with her? We have had our share of fights in the past, but usually they were over pretty quick. This is starting to worry me.  
  
"Hey, Lina? You gonna stand naked in a half-frozen stream the rest of the night?" Gourry, is already dressed I see.   
  
"I dunno? You gonna stand there and watch?"  
  
"Right, sorry." He turned away and leaned up against a nearby boulder, facing away from me. He doesn't even seem all that embarrassed. Then again, neither do I. Maybe I don't have to put my feelings for him on hold after all. But, if I do tell him, would it prove to be a too big of a distraction? Or would nothing really change? Ah, forget it! There's food to be eaten. . .if we can find it. . .man, I have no idea what's edible on this world. That's better, my clothes may not be much, but they beat being naked after an ice cold bath.  
  
"Ok, Gourry! Let's go."  
  
"Right!" I guess he put the incident with Naga behind him at the thought of a soon to be had meal. Not that I can blame him. We haven't eaten for at least six hours now. With my lack of nourishment, dropped face first on a whole new universe, Xellos being Xellos, fighting with Naga and Zelgadis of all people, today has been a very exhausting day.   
  
Hunting for food is proving to be more difficult than I thought. Momentarily forgetting that we are on an alien world, Amelia and I have been searching for things that don't even exist here. Sure things LOOK similar, but there are subtle differences such as too many points on an what used to be an edible plant's leaf. To top things off, scared the animals away when I had my outburst. I suppose we could take a chance and eat some of the local flora, but, what if we eat something poisonous? Without our magic, we can't cast a detoxify spell if one of us were to ingest something toxic.  
  
Rustle  
  
"Amelia, over here!"   
  
"What is it, Mr. Zelgadis?"  
  
"I heard some movement about five hundred yards away from us."  
  
"Is it Lina and the others?"  
  
"No, it come from the opposite direction of the stream. It may be monsters. . .or it may be food."  
  
"Food! What are we waiting for!?"   
  
"Ms. Lina! Mr. Gourry, Gracia! Mr. Zelgadis believes there may be some food up ahead!"  
  
"That's Naga, little sister."  
  
"Right. . ."  
  
Lina wasn't about to let a little sibling quarrel to get in the way of a meal. "Anyways. . .lead the way Zel, I'm still a little stiff from that cryogenic chamber I called a bath."   
  
"Cryo-what?"   
  
"A little something I read about when I was studying at the sorcerers guild, a chamber that freezes you after you die so when the people of the future cure death, you won't be a skeleton. The most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my opinion. About as quack as immortality research."  
  
". . ." The feeling was mutual all around. What the hell is wrong with career magic users?  
  
"Anyways. . .let's go hunting. But be especially on your guard, it may be a monster, or worse." I sure hope it is food, if Lina doesn't eat on a regular basis, she gets. . .violent.  
  
Creeping through the woods, ever mindful of where we are stepping in this semi-dry forest, we set off for our prey. Movement. A flash of yellow through a briar patch on top of a small ridge. Slowly, now. . .the others? Good, they took my slowing as their que and halted, waiting for me, the one with the most sensitive sense, to do the stalking. Let's see what is over this ridge.  
  
A bird. A big bird. A really big bird! It has to be at least six feet tall and two hundred-fifty pounds of muscle. More than enough for all of us, for at least a few days, maybe more if we can convince Lina to ration.   
  
Damn, the bird knows something is amiss. . .got to keep low while until it stops scanning the area with its darting gaze. The bloodlust is welling within me. Maybe. . .maybe hunting can be a way to sate it. Instead of lashing out against my friends I can let loose the demon while simply hunting for food. . .  
  
Time to kill. I motioned the others to surround the hill the bird is currently foraging on. Hopefully they'll be quite enough. I know, Gourry and Amelia can as Gourry is a former mercenary and I have personally trained Amelia. Lina is the wild card though. Although she CAN be stealthy if she wishes, the mere thought of food only yards away from her must be almost too much for her to bear.   
  
But, it seems that my fears are unfounded. Everyone found a position encircling the giant avian without so much a sound. Lina must've realized that if she acted all gung-ho like usual she would've lost her only real chance at food for an indeterminatable time. All right, I think everyone knows that the plan is to rush the bird, contracting our human noose until one of us can make a grab at the beast. Not the most efficient way to hunt, but, with Amelia out of arrows, our lack of magic I don't see any other way to do this. My demon speed is useful against human opponents, but, against an animal with senses beyond that of an ordinary person, I doubt I could get the jump on the bird for a very long time. And. . .I don't want to use IT as it can only be used a few times. . . Well, here we go.  
  
"NOW!"   
  
"KWEH!?" Now that's an odd noise for a bird to make. Even a freakishly large one like this.  
  
We quickly scrambled toward the startled bird. And the bird's mind, I would venture to guess, is scrambling to find a way out of this predicament. It side hopped to its left, then right, looking for an opening. First it tried the most diminutive member of our group, Lina. It rushed toward her, possibly hoping to barrel over her with its considerable size. If Lina realized this as well, she showed no sign. In fact, she looked downright happy that she might be the one who gets first dibs on supper, she even has her daggers out, holding them as she would a fork and table knife. I still don't know if she is a genius or a complete idiot half the time I am around her. . .Oh well, maybe she'll slow it down a little. . .  
  
"K-kweh!" It looks like Gourry also saw that Lina was in trouble whether she did or not. Damn, he really tackled that thing. Oh. Doesn't he look a bit ridiculous being dragged around by that thing.   
  
"HELP!"   
  
"Let, go of it Mr. Gourry!"  
  
"If I DO THAT, I'LL GET TRAMPLED! WHOA!"  
  
"GOURRY! You'll pay for stealing my food later!"  
  
"WHATEVER LINA! JUST HELP ME!"  
  
The bird, now heading for Amelia as she seemed the next least likely threat to it, rushed to her in a mad panic, the weight of Gourry does not seem to have an affect on its speed. Amelia dropping down to a defensive stance. Defensive? What is she planning? Great . . .she got ran over. . .  
  
"Kweeeh!" No, she leaned as far back as she could at the last possible moment and kicked the birds gut as with as much force as she could at that position. The jolt actually managed to free Gourry now trying to free himself from a rotted stump landed face first into. But the kick, as strong as it was, wasn't enough to incapacitate the bird. It is now headed toward Naga, who, as usual, looks needlessly confident. She doesn't even have her sword out, what does she hope to accomplish? It's almost to her, she hasn't even moved yet. . .what is she thinking?  
  
"Chicken." The bird stopped. It looked impossibly angry. Maybe this creature is somewhat intelligent? No matter though, it will still be our dinner. But the person who said "chicken", Naga? Is she actually being useful?  
  
"Finish it Naga!"   
  
"I do not take orders from stone men."  
  
"Just do it Gracia! It could be for our very survival!"   
  
"Amelia, I. . ." She's hesitating like she did with the trolls! Gah! The bird is starting to make a break for it! I can't get to it in time! No other options left. . ..  
  
BANG!!  
  
Smoke obscuring my vision. I can't tell if. . .good, the bird is down. I didn't want to use my flint lock pistol. I have only a few shots left and I do not know if this world has gun powder.  
  
"Zel! Where did you get that!?" Lina asked, now sprinting to the felled animal with a still dazed Gourry in tow.  
  
"Well, Lina, I have been traveling in the outer continents for some time now."  
  
"High Level magic isn't common place there. . ." Amelia seems to be catching on.  
  
"So I needed a way to take out targets at a distance incase the situation aroused and I needed to be inconspicuous." That, and I enjoyed using Gravos's and Jillias's mens' pistols against them all those years ago. . ..  
  
"Huh, pretty handy, I guess. But still no match against magic." How does Lina hold a conversation while competing with Gourry for food?  
  
"Yeah, but this is the most powerful weapon we have at the moment, though I hope we don't have to rely on it. We should try to make some new arrows for Amelia's bow or rig up a sling to throw stones or something. You wanna stop eating and listen to me!? This is for our lives here!"  
  
"Shut up and eat, Zel! We can do all that later!" Whatever. . .  
  
"It's okay, Mr. Zelgadis. Besides we should eat too, we can worry about all that after dinner."  
  
"I know, but it's just that we have a long journey ahead of us, through a desert, and I just want to make sure we have enough rations for the trip." Looking over at those two humanoid garbage disposals, I wonder if that may prove to be impossible.  
  
"Dammit, Gourry! That was my chicken wing!"  
  
"You were eating that. . .thing, how was I supposed to know it was yours!?"  
  
"Because I. . ." I stopped listening, there food fights always ended up the same, anyways, with either Lina or Gourry to a lesser extent, getting most of the food. Naga screwed up again. I see her now looking away from the bloody mess Gourry, Lina and the bird have become, a slight shudder coursing up her spine. What did she see that would make her cringe even at the sight of ANIMAL blood? You would think that our survival would be a good enough reason to get over your fear of blood, but that obviously wasn't the case with her. Looking at her like this makes me feel guilty that Amelia has decided to help me as well as her sister. Which is yet another reason I have to help Naga. The other reason being is that she is becoming a liability. She has yet to help us in battle and was hardly any help at all in bagging this bird. I'll change that this very night..  
  
"Wait a minute, you two! Do you plan on cooking it, or just eating it as is?" Let's see how Naga does in field dressing. If anything it'll help her become less squeamish.  
  
"What's wrong with eating it sashimi?" Lina, looking more than a little ravenous, makes me think this may not be such a good idea, but it is still worth trying.  
  
"This is a new world, with new diseases, who knows what this thing might be infested with? It would be better to cook it first. Since she has done practically nothing to help us these last few hours, I nominate Naga to help me field dress and cook this bird."  
  
"Huh? Me?" Naga's looking even more pale, now. Good.  
  
"Yeah. . .she should do something! It wouldn't be fair for us to do everything!" Lina said with a mischievous look in her eyes. Good, she caught on. "Come on, Gourry, let's go scrounge up something to go with the giant chicken. What kind of chicken says 'kweh' anyway?"  
  
"Huh?" Gourry is still face deep in avian flesh, not surprisingly missed the entire, if short, conversation. Lina, looked briefly annoyed, forcefully grabbed a now protesting Gourry's arm and dragged him off into the forest. They should probably go take another bath or clean their clothes after that food frenzy. They never cease to amaze me with their lack of etiquette.   
  
"I'll go get some firewood, Mr. Zelgadis." The look she gave me was one of worry and hope. She must have caught on too. No one is going to be able to help Naga now. Speaking of the plasma fearing princess.   
  
"Come on, get over here." She's still dawdling with that ill expression on her face.   
  
"But, surely you would be better at this than I would. After all! Why should I, Naga the White Serpent, have to dirty herself inside of some beast?" If only your confidence were more than a facade.  
  
"Because, if you want to prove yourself more useful than a paper-machette umbrella, you will do EXACTLY what I say! Now get the fuck over here!" Pulling out some of my cooking tools, I searched for the scraping tool I use to skin game and my serrated and razor sharp gutting knife. Lina and Gourry already did a good job at tearing up the birds skin that I think that Naga's job will be to bleed and gut it tonight. I tied ropes around the birds ankles and threw the remaining length over a branch about fifteen feet over our heads. I pulled the rope until it was a foot off the ground and tied off the rope to a small tree. Naga watched it all with an expression of horrified anticipation on her face. I beckoned her to come over by my and the soon to be unrecognizable bird. I ordered her to start stripping the avian of its feathers, which she did with a numb detachment. She cringed, though, whenever she pulled feathers out from previously gnawed, loose skin and blood would seep out. But my cold glare and even colder words kept her to task. With that done, I handed her the gutting knife. I could have cut of the head myself with my bastard sword in one swipe, but I want her to do this in the messiest way possible.   
  
She took the blade with fumbling hands, like someone word if the knife were made of molten rock. The look on her face told me that she was not looking forward to this at all. Her eyes darting wildly as if she were looking for a way to escape this predicament. Her breaths were coming labored and shallow. Sweat soon sheened her entire body.   
  
I, not so gently, grabbed her knife hand and placed it next to the bird's exposed neck, the knife's serrated edge just knicking the skin to the left of its trachea.   
  
"Cut." She looked at me plaintively, her pupils dilating and her breathing becoming more forced. "If you want to have some semblance of respect in our happy little party you will cut the damn things head off." Her eyes hardened, her teeth set, she looked at the beast with a determination I have only seen when Gourry chased downed the Lord of Nightmares to get Lina back when she took her. Her hand slowly began a sawing motion, the knife penetrated the first few layers of skin. She then hit a vein or an artery, blood drizzled out, not gushing like it would if the bird were still alive. She tensed at the sight of the crimson fluid, but, amazingly, she continued, all the while making an increasingly higher pitched groan. Her knife then caught on the bird's windpipe. She struggled with it, jostling the knife every which way, but, unfortunately for her, it would not become unstuck.   
  
"Pull it hard." I told her, knowing what will happen when she does. She complied and, as I expected, the knife came loose, along with most of the windpipe and whatever tissues where still attached. The force of her pull dropped her on her rump and the reflexive jerk of the knife flung various bird parts all over her face. The look on her face is exquisite, the sheer horror she is feeling bringing strength and fulfillment to my body. I watch as her now with idle pleasure as her convulsing body hit the ground. She started to retch face first into the dirt and heaved up whatever food she had in her stomach, making her face resemble some macabre makeup model from hell. Her heaving and convulsing stopped. Her breathing soon fell into a stead rhythm, she must have passed out.   
  
Looking at the mess, she had created, I realize that I may have gone a little too far, though it was highly enjoyable. . .my gods. . .how long have I been thinking like this? Naga. . .Gracia. . .oh man. I started out thinking to cure her of her blood phobia, but ended up torturing her for my sick little pleasure instead. . .. What would Amelia think of this?   
  
I pulled Naga into a somewhat comfortable position against a tree and cleaned her up as best I could. I suppose I had better finish cooking the bird though. . .bad enough I am going to have an irrate Naga on my hands without a impatient and hungry Lina to worry about too.  
  
Gourry and I came back a couple of hours after we left Zel and Naga, with mushrooms, roots and tubers we found (who cares if they are edible or not? They WILL be if I have anything to say about it!) Amelia immediately followed with a large bundle of sticks (for arrows I assume) and logs for the fire. The first thing I noticed was an underdressed, over-endowed princess with smeared blood and dirt caking her body. Then I saw a figity Zel setting the giant chicken on a spit, though he seemed to have some difficulty as he was shaking almost uncontrollably. Luckily for him, Gourry took over and Zel then slumped over against another tree, one facing away from Naga. Interesting. . .  
  
Amelia, then noticed Naga, she dropped her bundle of wood and run over to her calling her name. I guess I would do the same thing if it were Luna, my older sister, but I would also be on my guard, as it could be a devious trap to cull out any weakness. But, Naga isn't one to cull out anything, sure she may tease you about some things, but she doesn't actively search for something to exploit. . .I guess Amelia is lucky in THAT respect. I'm not sure about any of Naga's other 'qualities' though. Amelia unsuccessfully roused Naga and stormed off to Zel. I'd really hate to be him right about now. . .  
  
"Mr. Zelgadis! What happened to my sister?"   
  
"Well. . .uh. . .Amelia, I. . Lina, Gourry? Can I trust you guys to cook this thing without it being half eaten by the time Amelia and I get back?" He seems disturbed, edgy, well, more so than usual.   
  
"Yeah, sure." Zel and Amelia wondered off into the woods. Gourry and I prepared a baste, or at least something similar, that we made up of various things we find when we are on the road.   
  
"Hey, Lina? Should we just leave Naga like this?" He momentarily stopped basting the chicken and cast a concerned glance at a still sleeping Naga.   
  
"Oh, she'll be fine, I think. She probably just fainted at the first sign of chicken blood."   
  
"I dunno, she looks kinda pale to me." Gourry, you don't need to be so concerned about someone who called you my "concubine".  
  
"I said she'll be FINE! Let's just concentrate on cooking this bird, okay?"  
  
"What's the matter, Lina?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Come on, how long have we been together? I know something is eating at you. And I know that I'll probably catch the brunt of your frustrations if I don't do something about it."  
  
"Hey now! You keep talking like this you'll catch a little more than just the brunt!" GAH! Don't give me that look! "Okay, fine! You wanna know what my problem is? Let's see, where to begin. . .oh! I know! Let's start off with the fact that we are on a different planet, we're struggling to find food that we don't even know is edible, Zelgadis is going crazy, Naga is here and she is already crazy, we have to fight a horde of Demon Lords, Xellos is being Xellos, everyone thinks that I should hurry up and admit that I love you. . .whoops."   
  
"Lina?"  
  
"Well. . .I, uh. . .," I love you but I don't want anything to change. . .I love you but isn't openly showing it a weakness? I love you but I won't know how to act if I say it. . . ". . .Gourry, I. . ." Ahhh. . .nuts. On top of this, I dropped our baste.  
  
"I know how you feel." Huh? "You're probably wondering I saying that will change anything. I wondered about that too for the longest time." He had a wistful gaze with a touch of sadness to his voice. " I thought that if I made any attempt at affection beyond the normal 'big brother' role you seem to have regulated me too, you would have either push me even farther away emotionally or leave on the side of a road with a lump or two on my head." I should be angry, shocked, embarrassed, but. . .I am oddly curious. Gourry who swore to protect me for the rest of my life, could he have actually done this out of love? If he did. . . "Lina, I don't want our way of life to change, I don't want to settle down yet, I want to keep on traveling with you. You have a knack for trouble which keeps life interesting, I love the way you explain things to me even if I don't understand half of it and the half I do understand I usually forget. So, I thought I'd swear to protect you forever, because I want to be with you, because I was curious about how you would react, which surprised me by the way and gave me some hope, when you didn't try to push me away. And also because I knew you where struggling with your own emotions. . .I didn't want to push you into it, but. . ."  
  
"But what?"  
  
"Don't you think that five years is long enough?"  
  
"Ha. . .hahahahaha! Gourry, you jellyfish!"  
  
"Lina?"   
  
"Oh, no! I'm not mad at you! Quite the opposite ya big goof! It's just that I have been fearing and hoping desperately for those words for years now."  
  
"Fearing? What's there to be afraid of? It's not like I bite or anything."  
  
"It's just that. . .ARGH! This is SO hard! It's like trying to cast a dragon slave during that time of the month!"  
  
"It's okay, just take your time. . .it's not like you haven't already. . ."  
  
"You want smacked?" I said half seriously. Sheesh. I know he likes teasing me and all, but this is really hard for me. . .  
  
"No, ma'am!" He said as he mock saluted. The tension melted away as he continual goofed around. So that's his game. . .thank you Gourry.  
  
"I am afraid of showing everyone that I love you."  
  
"Why?"   
  
"My sister."  
  
"Luna? Is she really that bad?"  
  
"I don' like talking about it."  
  
"But, you'll feel better if you do, right?"  
  
"I don't know."   
  
"Then why don't you try talking about it with me? She isn't here right now, it's only you and me." Maybe he is right. He always had a knack for matters of the heart. Luna isn't here. She can't hurt me.   
  
"I don't know why, but she always made it her business to make my life a living hell. She. ..she," Oh man. . .don't you cry, Lina Inverse, don't you dare. . . "She beat me like a dog whenever I failed to live up to her too high expectations. . .I . . .I, she," And this, ladies and gentlemen, is where I broke down completely. "She said that I couldn't love!" I found myself sobbing in Gourry's arms. "She said it is a weakness that the world can't afford for me to have."   
  
"What do you think that means?"  
  
"I had no idea for the longest time. But. . .I think I figured it out when you where captured by the Hellmaster."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Hellmaster Phibrizo! One of the five Demon Lords under Shabranigdo? He captured you and forced you to fight us!"   
  
"Oh, yeah! He was that kid who tried to pick pocket you right?"  
  
"Good enough. Anyways, when you where inside of his crystal, Hellmaster killed everyone else and sealed their bodies inside of crystal. He was about to shatter your crystal along with you inside. That is when I chose you, Gourry. I chose you over the entire world and cast the Giga Slave to save you. Phibrizo killed me in the midst of my casting and the spell went out of control. I don't remember anything else, and considering what everyone told me, we are lucky to be even existing. But I think I know what Luna meant about me falling in love."  
  
"How could she have know though?"  
  
"She is a Knight of Ciephied, she is prone to premonitions and what not. I suppose she knew I would be able to cast such a powerful spell and she proactively tried to prevent me from making any foolish descisions."  
  
"And, was it foolish in your eyes?"  
  
"No, I'd do it again if I could."  
  
"No you won't."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I don't want you to do something like that again! I almost lost you to that payoff-"  
  
"Chaos"  
  
"I remember chasing you down into the void trying to get you back, I don't know if you heard me, but I said that I need you."  
  
"Gourry. . ."  
  
"Then, all of the sudden, we are floating in mid air and you say something about me taking your virginity and knock me into a lake."  
  
"Gourry, you're rambling."  
  
"The point is, I don't want to lose you! What if you did cast the Giggle Slave again and you lose control of it again? What if I'm not able to save you? I don't know what I'd do if you. . .went away."   
  
I wrapped my arms around him, I don't want this moment to end. The first time we bared our souls to each other and it wasn't even that bad! Sure I cried, but no one but Gourry, the only man allowed to see my cry in my book, is here. We finally admitted that we love each other. . .I'm still not quite sure how I'm supposed to act now but with Gourry here, I think I'll be fine.  
  
"Lina?"  
  
"Yes, Gourry?" I eased myself into his arms, and I felt a rush when he eased accepted me like I had always belonged there. What else have I been missing?  
  
"The chicken is on fire."  
  
"WHAT!"  
  
Author's Notes  
  
Good God! That was long! I had a lot more planned for this chapter but the length was getting to be a little ridiculous. As you could no doubt tell, I suck at romance. So I tried to get a lot of it out of the way in this chapter so I can focus more on the plot later on. Also I did a lot of setting up character development wise. There are quite a few plot devices that are going to really on the characters emotions and mind set. So, for the next chapter, prepare to learn why it isn't a good idea to eat "giant chickens", a trek through the desert chased by anthropomorphic cacti and Xellos all in the next chapter entitled "I'm tired, hot, and a cactus bit my butt."   
  
BTW a cookie to those who spotted the Final Fantasy references. 


	4. Chapter 4

Slayers Final  
  
Chapter Four:  
  
"I'm Hot, Tired and a Cacti bit my Butt"  
  
"Gourry?"  
  
"Yeah, Lina?"  
  
"I'm tired."  
  
"We know, Lina, we all are."  
  
"You don't understand, I'm REALLY tired." Here we are, walking an endless sandbox of misery. Nothing but yellow sand and blue sky for miles in any direction, speaking of which, why does sand seem to end up in places on your body you didn't even know you had?  
  
"As Gourry said, we all are Lina, especially after we found out that "giant chicken" makes an excellent stool softener." True, only a few hours after we had finished off the cooked bird, we all had violent diahrea and were puking all over the place at the same time. I didn't believe it physically possible until that night. Then Xellos showed up, feigning distress, explaining that "chocobos" , the giant chickens eat a root that is toxic to humans and the toxin, while diluted in the chocobo's body, is still enough to make you violently ill for a day and a night. Xellos, the bastard, was probably watching the whole thing laughing his ass off. But, he did give us some supplies for the desert.  
  
"You're mean Zel. . ."  
  
"Here Lina, hop on my back, I'll carry you for a while."  
  
"Are you sure, Gourry? I mean, we are in the middle of the world's largest natural furnace. . ." We entered the desert headed south just as Xellos had instructed us, our destination? The Temple of the Fire Drag. . .I mean, the Temple of the Fire Crystal. That was nearly a week ago. We are almost out of rations and water, we have been traveling almost non stop to make up for it though. Everyone is tired, but at least they're not complaining like I am. . .I don't know why but I am always the first to complain about everything.  
  
Probably because my sister wouldn't listen to me complain and punished me whenever I did. I guess now with her not here, I feel I can get away with it. . .odd how Gourry started me on this train of thought almost a week ago, back in the woods north of the desert. It has been a rather. . .cathartic experience, though. It used to be, whenever I even thought of my sister, I would freak out and go hide somewhere. Now, with Gourry listening, even of he doesn't understand half the time, I can share my fears with someone I now know who loves me.  
  
"Ooohohohoho! I see cactus!" Naga, the former crown princess of the White Magic Capital of the World, Seyruun, and my former and one of my current traveling companions. She has an unique perspective of the world that always puts her on top. You can either admire her for her overly assertive attitude, I have my suspicions that it is forced, or be annoyed by her arrogance. Must people go with the latter.  
  
"Are you sure this time, Gracia? The last time you said you saw cactus there wasn't anything there. The time before that too." Amelia, the current crown princess, maybe if she can get over her current difficulties with her father, has probably had the toughest time out of us all. She has found her sister after being estranged for nearly a decade, but Naga, apparently, isn't the same person she used to be. Now, Amelia has a drunk air head whose afraid to spill a little blood, even for her friends, for a sister. On top of this, she has Zelgadis to worry about.  
  
Zelgadis, the chimera who once was human, who would do anything to become normal again. He and Amelia have obviously fallen for each other, though, I wonder about Zel's motives. He has been slowly becoming more and more demon-like in my eyes. Everyday he becomes a little more cruel, a little more sadistic. He tries to hide it by not saying anything, so he can't hurt us, but sometimes it is inevitable.  
  
"Dammit, Naga! If you say you see cactus one more time-" Here's a good example.  
  
"Mr. Zelgadis!" Amelia's relationship with the chimera has been strained as of late. It started when Zel asked her to come with her to talk in the woods, just before we ate the avian laxative. I don't know what was said between the two, but I suspect that it had something to do with why Naga was covered with dirt and blood slumped over on a tree, unconscious.  
  
"Sorry, but how many times do we have to stop to try and find imaginary cactus!? We don't have much in the way of food or water left, we can't afford waste any more time!"  
  
"But I really saw them! They move whenever we get near them though!" Naga looked frantic, more than one should when someone doesn't believe them. Probably because we took her brandy flask away as alcohol is the worst thing to have in a desert. It'll dehydrate you even faster than this gods-forsaken sun. And none of us felt like baby-sitting an unconscious Naga again.  
  
"What kind of cactus can move?" Asked a fast becoming angry Zel.  
  
"Well, we are on a new world, remember the chocobo? There are different kinds of animals here, maybe Naga has been seeing some kind of animal that only looks like a cactus." Amelia stopped the rapidly crumbling civility between Zel and her sister. She's had enough of there fighting I suppose. Naga and Zel have been trading barbs ever since we left the woods.  
  
"You mean like those over there?" Huh? I lifted my head off of Gourry's shoulder to see where he was pointing. Sure enough, there were several small cacti grouped together about 500 yards to the west. They were under a small outcropping of rust colored rock.  
  
"Well, I'll be damned if I weren't already. . .this is the only cover from the sun we've seen for days, let's rest here for a while. We can also get water from cactus and maybe there are some animals taking advantage of the shade we can use for food."  
  
"Giddy up, Gourry!" Food! Zelgadis said there will be food!  
  
"Right!" He ran with myself still quite comfortable attached to his quick at lubricous speed. I can only imagine the other's blank stares as we left them 500 yards behind in roughly 5.2 seconds.  
  
Now, where is the food? I see rocks that sort of look like food, I see cactus, but no prickly pears. . .maybe there are some insects or something hiding under the rocks?  
  
Prick  
  
"OUCH! What the hell? That cactus wasn't behind me a minute ago. . .?" But I really saw them! They move whenever we get close, though! No way . . .I jumped at the seemingly inanimate plant to see if it would jump back, attack, laugh at me, something! But only the stinging sensation on my rump and my clear memory of there NOT being a cactus behind me when I bent over to turn over a rock told me that something was very wrong. I looked over at Gourry, he was moving around at such a frantic pace that even if the cactus did move, they would be hard pressed to sting him.  
  
The others caught up now and looked a bit perturbed at my sickeningly innocent expression I had on my face. And rightly so, mind you! They've been around me long enough to know what it means.  
  
"Oh, Mr. Zelgadis?" He visibly trembled.  
  
"Where is the food? You said that there would be food, you silly chimera."  
  
"Now, look-"  
  
"YOU LOOK HERE, ZEL! YOU SAID THAT THERE WOULD BE FOOD, THEREFORE YOU WILL MAKE FOOD APPEAR HERE, NOW!"  
  
"I. . .uh. . .cactus?"  
  
"Who the hell would eat a cactus?"  
  
"No, behind you! Get down!" I ducked without thinking, and was gratified when I saw what had to be a thousand needles fly over my head and bounce harmlessly off of Zel. I jumped to my feet and found some cover behind a small boulder. I stole a quick glance and saw that Gourry was waving his sword in wild circles to deflect any needles, he seemed very hard pressed as his was deflected as much as he was collecting. . .ouch. There were dozens of them, all the cacti in the area had sprouted stubby arms and legs, and they seemed to have an unlimited supply of needles, unlike the fish-men of our world who could run out of scales if they shot to many from their body. And the majority of them were focused on turning Gourry into swiss cheese.  
  
"Gourry! Over here!" I think he heard me, but he didn't immediately move, he had his hands full by just trying to defend himself. Gourry isn't going to last long, those needles may be small, but they hurt, and judging by my now swelling posterior, slightly poisonous too, his chest may be fine with his breast plate and all, but his legs and legs are almost completely exposed. . "Zel! Get to Gourry!" He is closest to him, maybe he can get him to safety. If HE heard me, he gave no indication, he just kept on hacking the little anthropomorphic cacti into little pieces. Naga and Amelia aren't going to be much help, Amelia can't use her bow at this close range and she can't fight bare handed against the little spiky monsters!  
  
Naga, whoa, Naga is actually fighting! Letting her cape fly loose to distract the cacti she actually drew her sword and is cutting the freaks to pieces! I guess it makes sense, the cacti don't bleed blood. They bleed WATER. She may have just redeemed herself a little in my eyes. Maybe she can be of use! She is closer to Gourry than I am.  
  
"NAGA! Get Gourry over here!" She flashed me a big smile that was somehow both grateful and condescending. She moved quickly to my swordsman, slicing any cacti that came near her. Gourry, didn't look good, his movements were slowing, his arms and legs looking like a demented voodoo priest's pin cushion. Naga came in fast and hard, her short sword hacking the beasts down like firewood. Gourry finally collapsed, driving some of the needles even deeper into his flesh.  
  
Zelgadis was still in full battle frenzy, even going as far as mutilating already fallen cacti if there weren't any fresh ones in reach. Amelia was hiding with her head in the dirt like an ostrich, what the hell? Why would Amelia be hiding like that? I know she is completely useless in this battle, but still. . .at least the cacti are avoiding her.  
  
Naga, after cutting down the remaining cacti, finally reached Gourry, who was convulsing slightly on the ground. Gourry. . .Well, since the cacti are all dead, there is no reason for me to hide here, now is there? OUCH! Maybe moving isn't such a good idea. If I hurt this much, how much pain must Gourry be feeling right now? If he's even conscious that is. . ..  
  
Naga with Gourry in tow and the others plopped down next to me, we are all exhausted. The heat had been bad enough, but for those who fought it must be really rough right now. Damn you Xellos. . ..  
  
"Gourry's not doing to well." Zelgadis said that so nonchalantly it made me seethe. But I didn't have the energy to both lash out at Zel and get to Gourry. Why? I didn't fight. . .it must be the needle! Great! The second time in a week I've been poisoned! I struggled over to Gourry, and, at first glance, I agreed with Zel's assessment of Gourry's condition. His arms and legs swelled to almost a third larger than normal, impaled with what had to be a hundred needles. . .his eyes were shut, his face pale and sweating profusely. Not good in any circumstance but even worse in this desert.  
  
"Here, drink this Miss Lina." Amelia handed me a flagon (a full flagon) of slightly odd tasting water. As soon as I imbibed, I felt stronger, the swelling on my butt went down. I immediately forced some of the water (if it was water) down Gourry's throat. He spit up some of it, but he was already looking better.  
  
"What is this, Amelia?"  
  
"It's water from the cactus. I filled my flagon with some, I suggest you do the same when you are both feeling better."  
  
"How did you know it would work against the poison?"  
  
"Poison!? I though you two just had heat sickness!"  
  
"Yeah, whatever, these needles are coated with some kind of natural toxin, even one sting hurts enough to where you can't even move. I assume that the water inside these things has a natural antidote. Just help me get rid of these needles on Gourry's limbs." I looked over at Naga, who was staring down Zelgadis with a cocky grin.  
  
"You may have pulled through this time, but we'll see just how brave you are the next time we face an enemy that actually bleeds." Zel then stalked away to fill his canteens with the cactus water, leaving a seemingly still arrogant Naga, but to those who have known her long enough, she looked visibly deflated. Amelia stopped yanking needles out of Gourry and put a comforting arm around Naga's shoulder.  
  
"It's okay Gracia, I thought you where really brave back there. But you didn't have to shove my head in the sand!"  
  
"Oooohohohoho!" Well, she seems to be a little better, alcohol or no. Speaking of. . .I reached into my pack, I made sure Naga wasn't looking, and pulled out her flask of brandy. I took a quick swig, the swelling may be down but it still hurts like a bitch. I then splashed some of the drink on a rag and began to rub down Gourry's now needle free wounds, on top of everything happening today, the last thing we need is an infected swordsman. Gourry stirred a little, then his eyes groggily opened.  
  
"What happened. . .? I last remembered fighting . . .cactus?" I hit him over the head with my slipper.  
  
"OW! What was that for!?"  
  
"That's what you get for trying to take on an entire cactus army by yourself, Jellyfish!"  
  
"Well, sorry. . .what a minute? Why do I smell like Naga?"  
  
I watched Gourry and Lina interact with each other from the in the shadow of a rock outcropping, wondering if Amelia and I can ever have such a profound relationship. Well, except without the gratuitous violence. I know I really screwed up with my way of "helping" Naga overcome her fear of blood. I don't know if Amelia will ever trust me again so that we can ever get that close.  
  
DAMMIT! I need her. I need her as much as I need to have my human body back. But I feel the demon inside me constantly gaining more and more possession of my soul. I fight back, I have too, but it is so hard. . .it isn't as bad when Amelia is around me though. I suppose it has something to do with positive emotions like love that keeps the demon at bay. But ever since that night we caught the bird. . .I can still feel the demon shrinking back whenever I am around her, just not as much as it was a week ago. I've tried to make amends, I've tried to apologize to Naga. But I am not the best at saying I am sorry, and it doesn't help that Naga and I have been trying to get at each other's nerves ever since that night. Can't say I blame her though.  
  
This journey has been one personal hell after another. If I am not subconsciously trying to make everyone feel bad, I have been mentally picking myself apart, trying to figure out how to stop. Bad enough we are in an unfamiliar desert in an unfamiliar world without worrying about what you might do without thinking. This world is full of dangers, some natural, like these cacti and toxic birds. Others, of a more. . .supernatural persuasion. Which brings me to a troubling question; Where have all the demons gone?  
  
We have been here for nearly a week with no sign of us being followed or even watched. Not that that is a good thing though, demons can follow and watch you from the astral plane, the parallel dimension where demons and gods reside. I know from experience that Xellos is more than likely keeping an overly amused eye on us right now. He probably enjoyed that little skirmish we just had, even if it could have turned his plans for us sour if it had gone differently.  
  
Anyways, the demons couldn't have lost track of us, could they? Or maybe they have something else to worry about. Xellos did mention something about a war camp. Maybe they are too busy subjugating the remaining resisting mortals than to deal with us at the moment. I suppose I should be thankful we haven't run into Ragnazzo and Cagnazzo ever since we have gotten here. But. . .it's so damn boring without having any demons breathing down our necks. Sure we run into a few pockets of the local wildlife and a few groups of monsters, but when you have traveled with Lina Inverse long enough, you tend to expect she somehow, someway she pissed off a Demon Lord and is now out for revenge.  
We decided to set camp here, and resume our journey after the sun had set. The night will protect us from the infernal heat of the sun but the trade off will be the nocturnal beast whose only fear seems to be fire. We lit torches made from dried out cactus people (it's amazing how fast those things dehydrate after you kill them) and walk in a circle formation.  
  
We could see fleeting movements out the corners of our eyes, fast moving shadows darker than the night. Amelia was getting nervous, she tried to hide it but her shaking legs gave her away. Lina was slowly getting pissed off, as usual, at the cowardice of our invisible tag-alongs, openly challenging them to come out into the open. Gourry just shook his head in exasperation and reminded Lina that the cacti were bad enough, who knows what is following us in the night. We tried to avoid any confrontation and luckily for us, so did the unseen stalkers. It helped that Lina got the bright idea of giving Naga a swig of brandy (to Amelia outrage) which turned her into the world's most annoying "Ooohohohoho" sounding alarm system, thus scaring anything away within a ten mile radius We also avoided any cactus we saw.  
  
Dawn eventually broke, and we where none the worse for wear. Although Lina's complaints seemed to increase in both volume and quantity. Naga's stream of self congratulation diminished, thank the gods, mostly due to her lack of alcohol I suppose. But in its place was a brooding, haunted Naga who seemed to see things that only she could. This in turn, worried Amelia, who is still not talking to me, to the point where she was begging Naga to tell her what is the matter. Gourry was just being Gourry, stoically taking desert heat and Lina's complaints with a few words of comfort to keep her relatively calm.  
  
Then around noon that day, we saw it. An series of angular rocks and chimneys that could not be natural. A city! They were colored as the desert rocks were, offering some camouflage from invading forces.  
  
"About freakin' time! Come on Gourry, let's make them pay us our weight in food for making a temple this far in the middle of nowhere!" Lina's priorities made it through the desert intact I see.  
  
"Maybe Mr. Xellos will be there waiting for us." Amelia looked somewhat hopeful, the exact opposite of my feelings. Experience says that if Xellos in within a 100 mile radius of any of us, trouble will soon find or has already found us.  
  
"I'm not sure that is something to be praying for, Amelia. After all, Xellos is the one who dropped is on this gods-forsaken planet." Despite her talk, Lina seemed somewhat excited about what kind of trouble Xellos has gotten them into. Maybe all her years of getting into trouble has become addictive.  
  
Despite the seemingly short distance the structures seemed, it took us the rest of the day to get to the first of the structures. Even in the waning light, we could tell that the place is deserted. There were no lights in any windows, no muffled sounds of communication, not much of anything really.  
  
"Maybe it's just some ancient ruins or something. It doesn't look like anyone has been here in a long time." I commented, I've been to enough temples and ruins in search of a cure to know if something is ancient or not.  
  
"No, someone is here. . .."  
  
"Gourry?" He had that look in his eye, the one that belied his animal-like instinct to sniff out danger. We've all been around him long enough to take it as a genuine warning. We took defensive positions back to back to each other.  
  
Swoosh!  
  
They appeared out of nowhere, ten of them, all dressed in what had to be robes of some priesthood. The robes were white with red triangles trimming the hems. We couldn't see their faces as their hoods obscured them. They were armed with long staves with crystals of varying colors topping them. The priest in the middle stepped forward.  
  
"Welcome, Light Warriors. You will come with us."  
  
Author's Notes: The plot thickens. . . .As you can tell, this chapter is quite a bit shorter than the previous ones. I intend to keep it this way so you, the readers, do not have to wait as long for updates and the chapters are in easier to digest chunks. What will become of our intrepid adventurers? Will they be beaten senselessly by the men with sticks, or do they have something more devious in mind? And where the hell is Xellos? Find out next time in. . .  
  
Slayers: Final  
  
The Odd Burning Sensation  
  
BTW;  
  
Thanks to those who reviewed! 


	5. Slayers: Sorry

Sorry for the lack of updates and all. I hav been VERY busy with school and work (note to self; never take more than one art class per semester again!), thanks to those who reviewed my increasingly rushed chapters and again, I apologize. I don;t plan to give up on this story though, but don't expect any updates any time soon.  
  
Sincerest Apologies, Tom the Mighty 


	6. Chapter 5

Slayers: Final

Chapter 5

The Odd Burning Sensation

"Welcome Light Warriors. You will come with us." The tall man said. He was the tallest of the group of ten said. They were all dressed in odd robes, like those of a priest. The robes were white with red triangles hemming the edges. Their hoods obscured their faces, giving them a somewhat creeped out feeling. But what really concerned me were their staffs, and the way they seemed so comfortable with them, as if they were extensions of their bodies. If this comes to blows they could cause some major damage if we aren't careful. I doubt my tiny daggers will be of any use defending against those. Ah well, time to put on a brave face.

"It's rude to be making demands of us, mister! Especially since we don't even know who you are!"

"There is no time for that! We must get inside, quickly!" He had a sense of urgency that seemed real enough . . . but what if he is just trying to lull us into a false sense of security and leads us into a trap?

"We are not going anywhere until you explain what is going on. We are not fool enough to let people who pop out of no where lead us around." Way to tell em' Zel!

"Yeah, but what about Xellos? He pops out of nowhere." The dumb-ass swordsman strikes again.

DONK!

"JELLY FISH!"

"You have done well to capture Naga the White Serpent, as well as the extraneous others, but! You cannot hope to conquer the ones who posses the orbs!" Whose extraneous?

"Then it IS true! We had thought that the mysterious priest was lying when he told us the Light Warriors were upon us, but here you are!" He doesn't seem like he wants to hurt us, but he does seem a little too anxious to get us to where ever he wants us to go.

"Why do you want us to come with you so badly? What's the rush?"

"The Beast Master's army is on the move. . .No one may enter or leave the temple, less they discover it!"

"What temple? All I seem is ancient ruins." Zel's hostility, now only thinly veiled, showed that he isn't in the mood for games, neither am I frankly, but we don't need him picking fights with people we just met! Even if they are dressed strangely and appeared out of no where like a demon would.

"Come, everything will be explained in time." He walked up to a seemingly nondescript wall, he uttered a few mumbled words and his hands gestured in precise patterns. A door suddenly appeared in the wall.

"Magic! Magic DOES exist in this world!" If I can learn the fundamentals like the names of major demons of this world and some chaos words, I may be able to come up with a rudimentary attack spell!

"Well, yes. Everyone who guards the temples knows how to use at least some magic, and so will you, to a much greater degree, if the legend is true. Follow." We didn't have to be told twice. I eagerly followed the ten Priest through a labyrinth of stone until we finally reached a large chamber. The room was spacious but still it was filled with all kinds of dwellings and stalls carved into the rock, in the center was a large spiral staircase which reminded me of a sea snail's shell. I saw no signs of masonry and could only come to the conclusion that it was somehow grown magically.

The place was bustling with activity, all manner of beings other than humans milled about, carrying belongings, gathering supplies and setting up defenses. Their faces were that of fear and hope, like one would have if you learned that someone you loved was involved in an accident, you'd be afraid for that person, but you would also pray for the best. None took much notice of us, no big surprise I suppose. The other priest went off to help with whatever they can.

"It looks as if you are preparing for a fight." Gourry, well versed in war (many would say that war is the only thing he's versed in) was quick to notice that many of the younger, stronger men were arming themselves with swords, pikes and forming up in battle formations. Archers were positioning themselves in the stalls to be able to cover the foot soldiers from a distance. Many of the younger boys and girls, young teens it looked like, were setting up barricades and the like in the less defensible positions.

"Well, you see Master . . ." The priest looked at him questioningly.

"Gourry, just call me Gourry."

"Yes, Gourry, my name is Pringle by the way, The White Priest Pringle. Anyways, we are expecting a fight, very soon I am afraid. You see, this temple is covered by two illusions. One is a visual one, to disguise this place as an abandoned city. That keeps out any of the mortal spies the Demon Lords may send to find us.

"The other, is one of an Astral nature. The Fire Crystal protects us by making this place invisible to the Astral Plane."

"But if you are all preparing for a fight, someone has discovered this location." Zel, while trying to be sympathetic, couldn't mask the excitement creeping in his voice. He wants this fight, like any other fight it seems as of late.

"But how? Was it a spy?" Amelia being all to familiar with treachery had a look in her eyes that for told death by justice speech to any who would betray this temple.

"It was you, actually."

"WHAT!?" We all exclaimed.

"It seems that the enemy has learned that Naga the White Serpent has come and they hope to destroy such a threat by catching me unaware! OOOOHOHOHOHOHOHO!"

"That MUST be it, Naga! Or have you forgotten that you just tagged along!?" I guess she hasn't learned humility in the past few years.

"That's enough, Lina." Gourry pulled me away from the fast developing conflict. I wouldn't have normally been that abruptly viscous with Naga, but I had forgotten how stressful traveling with her could be. This is going to be a very long quest. . . ..

"I should say it will be you, sorry. You seem, as soon as the crystal gives you its power, this place will no longer be shielded from the Astral Plane and we will be beset by the Beast Master's forces in no time."

"Then why are you helping us?" I'm not sure I would in his situation.

"Simple, really. If you gain the powers of the Five Crystals you will be able to defeat the Demon Lords and this world will prosper once again. While it is sad that many of us will die in the process, it is preferable to being the Dark Lord's slaves for all eternity, providing the demon's natural resources for their extra planar conquest."

"I suppose, but it still makes me feel like crap. Anyways. . .you know about the demon's plane to take over another world?"

"Oh yes. We have one among our order who was a slave to one of the highest ranking demons. In fact here he comes now!"

We heard the marching of a hundred pairs of armored feet, clanking towards our direction. Soon we saw them, a platoon of heavily armored troops lead by a garishly armored figure who wielded two scimitars. They marched in perfect unison right up to our position in front of the entrance.

Pringle stood next to the platoons leader, "I present to you, Captain Garirand! Leader of the Metal MiliTIA," he coughed a bit, "Excuse me, the Metal Militia!"

Garirand bowed as low as he could in his grandiose armor,"Pleased to meet the legendary Light Warriors, I did not believe they would appear in my life time."

"The pleasure's ours I'm sure." There is something odd about his voice. . .it was almost to subtle to detect, was he mocking us?

A beaming Pringle continued his introduction, "Captain Garirand has protected this area this past year, none have ever seen such swordsmanship before! He has cut down lesser demons than most men would quake in fear before!"

"Hmm . . .looks like you may have a new rival to practice swordplay with, Gourry."

Garirand with his oh so subtle condensation replied, "I do not believe that I would be a match for such legendary figures, after all, it is you who must save this world, as well as your own!"

"Speaking of, how did you manage to escape slavery?"

"There is not much to tell actually. I simply did what I was told, feigning complete loyalty all the while learning all that I could about my "masters", strategies, strengths and weaknesses. Eventually they were convinced that I was no threat and there monitoring of me laxed to the point where I could escape with only minor difficulty."

"I see," well actually I didn't. How can a mere human hide his emotions from demons? There is something more to this guy than meets the eye, and I have a feeling I don't want to know what it is. "In any case, I'm sure you have more preparations to do and we have to go see the Fire Crystal soon, but first!" I grabbed the white priest robe and pulled him close. "YOU WILL TAKE US TO FOOD!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Came his weak reply.

Later, after we had cleaned out the temple's remaining food stores, we started up the giant spiral stair case to the temples top level, the Chamber of the Fire Crystal. After climbing a distance that seemed a lot longer than it should have, I looked up and discovered that we haven't even climbed half way up yet.

"Hey, old man Pringle! What is up with these stairs? We aren't even close to the top yet we've been climbing for at least an hour."

"This stair way and the top of the bottom chamber is covered by an illusion to trick any enemies that discover this place and lead them into a bottle neck at the top of the flight, should they get that far" They have it all figured out, don't they? "In the top chamber, we can also set loose a number of traps rigged through out the length of stairs. In short the Crystal is very well defended, but even so, we expect the enemy to make it to the Crystal, that is were you will come in."

"I assume the Crystal is going to give us some kind of magical power?" Zel asked.

"Yes, to any who has natural magic ability."

"I guess that leaves Mister Gourry out." Quipped Amelia.

"Do not worry, the Crystal will bestow upon those who lack magic an increase in ability to ones natural skill and talent."

"So does that mean that Gourry is going to become an even MORE skilled swordsman?!" Already Gourry has the greatest swordsmanship I have ever seen, and the Crystal can make him more formidable?

"Yes indeed. If your talents lie in between martial and magical abilities, the Crystal shall also upgrade your skill, but split evenly between the two."

"This is great! I wonder if they have any spells that are similar to our own?" Maybe I can find this world's equivalent to the Dragon Slave!

"Sorry to disappoint you, but you yourself will be coming up with the spells."

"How are we to do that?" I asked. "Do you have any names of major demons or spirits we can draw spells from?" To create a spell on our world you need a name of a demon or spirit, an exceptional knowledge of magical theory and a fair amount of luck. I can only hope it is the same on this world, or else we are sunk.

"You will not need them," Huh? "On our world the only thing you will need is the knowledge imparted to you by the Crystals. You do not need to recite any lengthy spells or shout words of power and the like."

"But you were casting a spell earlier at the entrance to this place, were you not?" Zel questioned.

"All that gibberish? No, I was just saying the password."

"What about the gesturing?" Amelia continued.

"I was just getting some air into my robes, outside IS a desert you know!"

"Oh."

"Anyways, here we are." We stopped infront of a huge door, the door itself was a bas-relief carving of some epic battle long ago, I suppose. Like the stairway before it, it seemed to be grown rather than made by mortal hands, as the work and detail were to perfect.

We entered and found ourselves in a large circular chamber. The walls also lined with bas-relief but instead of depictions of war, the "carvings" were of vines and tree trunks which gave the room a very organic feel. The vine reliefs continued from the walls and onto the floor, leading to the center of the room which stood an ornate pedestal.

On top of the pedestal was a crystal, a stone of beauty and inner fire whose likes I have never in all my years of treasure hunting. It was large, easily the size of my head, and the color was a rich fiery crimson, I would easily go as far as calling it transcendent. It glowed softly, but more so than an ordinary gem had any right to, casting the room a ruby hue.

There was also, a kind of holiness about the place, a sense of reverence and peace. I am not a pious person, never have been taken with any religion like Amelia, Filia or Sylphiel. I never had much use for them. But even so, nothing has ever made me come so close to fallen to my knees in humility in that room in the presence of such a thing, no not thing, an entity. After gathering my head I looked at the others and saw that they too were in a similar state of awe. Gourry looked as if his jaw would hit the floor and his crystal blue eyes were the widest I had ever seen them. Naga, for once, looked speechless, just staring at the Crystal, lost in its multifaceted depths. Zelgadis seemed more human than he had since he rejoined the group, his eyes losing the hard edge and veiled hostility, as if the mere presence of the Crystal pushed his inner demon away. Amelia, possibly subconsciously sensing the change in Zel, leaned against him, for her knees had gone weak.

"Yes, it does have that affect on people doesn't it? I always feel like dropping to the floor in prayer every time I see it, even after all my years as the head Priest of this temple," Pringle took each of our orbs and placed them in slots surrounding the Crystal. He then went to the entrance of the chamber. "I will know leave this in the hands of our god, Iifa, the Fire Dragon God, whose last remaining power and wisdom is entrapped within the Fire Crystal. May he guide you in mercy." With that he left the chamber and shut the great door behind him leaving us alone with his god.

"So, what do we do, Lina?"

"I-"

I was interrupted by a voice in my head. It was many voices but one, it was melodic but flat, high in pitch but with a bass rumble undertone. It spoke, "Welcome Lina Inverse, the avatar of our mother," _Our mother? _The Lord of Nightmares? "Yes, that is the title those of your world had given her. But on to more pressing matters. You know why you are here?"

"To save the world, I suppose. I haven't really been given many details." I thought my words, somehow sensing that spoken dialogue would not be needed for this engagement.

"Yes, well, those who are Light Warriors seldom know what they are until destiny calls. An often they find out in the most interesting of ways. You for instance, believe you were tricked into coming here by the demon known as Xellos. And so did he."

"You imply that even though he thought he was using his own volition, he was actually playing into your hands?" Serves him right, the Trickster being tricked!

"Typical Inverse genius. Yes he proved to be of great use in getting you here and providing you with the orbs of power, which are not, by the way, part of a silly lottery used by some obscure god of marriage. They were scattered by the enemy in hopes of deterring the return of the Light Warriors. But, the Light Warriors will always return, until the very Staff of the God's is destroyed and we are all plunged into the Sea of Chaos. But, luckily for us, the Demon Lords have other plans. Instead of playing out their role in trying to destroy the Staff, the have decided to try for multi-universal conquest."

This is different. I have never heard of such a mass rebellion of the higher-ups before. Sure our Demon Dragon Lord Gaav rebelled against the 'system', but he was put down by his own kind. We will be so lucky this time.

"But why? How can they just go against our mother's grand design, whatever it may be?"

"Some demons have more free will than others, just look at your Valgaav, wasn't he the free thinking fellow? But they have a grander scheme in mind than just conquering all that exist, they wish to resurrect their lord, Chaotic Black or Bardradigdo. To do that, they need to destroy the God's Crystals and break the seal to the Dark Crystal the other Gods and I managed to entomb him in.

"But enough of such things, and on to the details of your quest; you need to find and visit my brethren, the Earth Dragon God Terra, the Wind Dragon God Valefor, the Water Dragon God Ashura, and the final God our own God, the Flare Dragon God Ziepheid. They are entrapped in their respective Crystals and well hidden in the temples scattered throughout the world."

"Nice, so all we have to do is find the temples and receive the power the other Crystals give us? All the while blindly searching this unfamiliar landscape with little to no indication of where to go next and being hounded by a horde of hell spawn."

"You disapprove?"

"Nah, it just sounds a little routine to me, that's all."

"Ha! I knew we could count on you! Now, on with the show! As soon as this conversation ends, you will have received my power. You need not worry about not knowing how to use this power, it will come as naturally to you as breathing, though it may take you a try or two to get the hang of it. It may not seem like much at first, but it will prove to be invaluable. But do not rely on it too much, not until you have visited at least one more temple after this. I bid you farewell, Lina Inverse, say hi to my brothers for me. Oh! By the way, the temple is being attacked as we speak, so as soon as my power is drained the enemy will know exactly where I am. Bye!"

The conversation ended, and I was thrusted back into reality. It was momentarily disorienting, mostly due to the stress of talking extra planarly and something else. . . .Magic! I've got it back! It doesn't feel nearly as powerful as it did before we came to this world, but at least we have some magical power again. I looked to the Crystal. No longer was it glowing with holy inner fire. It now was as brilliant as a piece of volcanic glass. We all removed our orbs from the now inert pedestal. As soon as I touched mine I felt a familiar surge of power.

"Hey, Lina?"

"Yes, Gourry?" He seemed a little shaken up.

"I just had a conversation in my head with that rock."

"Hahaha! So did I Gourry! Guess what?! I got some of my powers back!"

"Really!? That's great!" We embraced joyfully at the first real good news since we came here. "Now that you mention it, the big quartz thingy did mention a massive stat increase?"

"Stat increase?" What the heck?

"Yeah, something about me becoming a better swordsman."

"Yes, he did mention that Light Warriors with no magical ability would become better at what they're good at."

Pringle then burst into the chamber, looking pale and terrified.

"It looks like we are about to get your chance to find out how much you've gained, a horde of beast men is storming the stair! We didn't have enough time to fully prepare our defenses! Except for the Metal Militia, we are being slaughtered!"

"Did you get the women and children out?" Asked a worried Amelia.

"Yes, most of them. Some of them stayed to fight with their lovers and children. You must hurry! The Crystal gave you his power did he not?"

"Hold on!" I yelled, "We don't even know how to use our power yet! We'd be about as useful as a fuseless stick of dynamite!"

Zelgadis stepped up with a solution. "Alright, you, Amelia and Naga stay here and figure out a way to use your magic. Gourry and I are the best with weapons, we will try to hold them off until you come up with some kind of rudimentary offensive spell." The bloodlust was clearly back in his eyes now that the Crystal has been drained. He probably wouldn't even mind if Gourry stayed behind as well if it meant more killing for him.

"All right, Mr. Zelgadis, we'll think of something!" Amelia seemed more determined than ever in this quest. Probably because we know have something tangible to work with, and that she may be has forgiven Zel a little.

"I'm counting on you Amelia."

Gourry pecked me on the cheek. "We'll keep them off you, Lina. Hurry and make them regret messing with the legendary Lina Inverse!"

"Damn straight! Don't worry, I'll come up with a spell they won't soon forget! Even on the afterlife."

"That's my girl." With that Gourry and Zel left for the quagmire that is close quarters combat. Leaving the other girls and Pringle in the chamber.

"So. . .any ideas?" I asked. I can feel the magical energy but with a spell to work from I am finding this to be a little difficult. But. . .no one can ever say that Lina Inverse has backed down from a challenge before!

"Well, the Crystal did say that we should be able to just use it."

"That's all and well, Amelia, but I really don't know where to begin here."

"Ha! Can this be the day that Lina Inverse admits her inferiority to Naga the White Serpent!?"

"Oh come on, Naga! It's not like you know how to do anything with this seemingly useless power too, ya know?"

"Oh? Watch this!" She began to gesture wildly, as a child would will making up her own dance.

"Gracia? What are you doing?" A perplexed Amelia asked.

"She's being Naga, that's what she is doing! You should have seen some of the stunts she pulled when she followed me around! Like the time-"

"Miss Lina! Look!"

"Huh!?" I could only see Naga's silhouette as she was engulfed in a steadily growing light. Her wild movements were now joined by chanting. Her tempo rose and so did the light though it did not hurt our eyes. Just what kind of a spell is she casting here? "Naga! Are you sure should be casting something like that here!?" I don't know what 'that' is exactly, but it looks to be something big and dangerous.

Her chanting had reached its crescendo and the light that surrounded her withdrew into her body. What I saw next would stick with me until the day I die.

"Ooooohohohohoho!" Dozens of jellyfish , sea cucumbers and inchworms spewed from her hands. Carpeting the floor with a writhing mass of flesh. After what seemed like an eternity, it ended and the chamber stuck of fish. In the middle of it stood a victorious looking Naga, waist deep in jellyfish.

"Wonderful, Miss Naga!" exclaimed Pringle who was busily throwing levers and switches to various traps to help buy us more time.

"Congratulations, you have succeeded in making us sick to our stomachs."

"Genius is never appreciated in their own lifetimes." She idly brushed off some inchworms from her hair.

"Gracia, how did you do that?" At least Amelia's happy about her making the room stink like a beached whale carcass.

"The feat was not so difficult for the likes of Naga the White Serpent!"

"Seriously. . ."

"I just kind of knew what to say and do. Like I already knew how to do it."

"Hmm. . .well, if SHE can do it, so can we, Amelia. Let's see if I can do a little fire magic." I leveled my arms out in front of me and cupped my hands. If magic here worked like it does back home, I should be able to gather the magical energy into my hands and fling it at whatever target I choose. I began to chant words of chaos that I did not know until I started my spell. I felt the spells power grow in my hands, growing warmer and warmer. My hands began to glow and my hands became uncomfortably warm. Magic doesn't usually come with odd burning sensations does it? "OH SHIT!"I screamed as my hands began to smoke.

Authors Notes: Well, I got this chapter out sooner than I had anticipated. Sorry about all the boring plot related dialogue but do not worry; things are going to heat up real soon. . .or have they already? Stay tuned next time for an earth shattering plot twist and a bit of the old ultra-violence as the Beast Master makes her appearance in the next episode of Slayers: Final "Birth of a KnightMare"

BTW: I have stopped using grammar check because it sucks and tries to make me write like a hill-billy, so I am sorry to any of you who can't stand bad grammar.

Thanks for reviewing!


	7. Chapter 6

Slayers: Final

Chapter Six

Birth of a Knightmare

"Oh SHIT!" I screamed as I desperately tried to put out the flames that had engulfed my hands due to a botched fire spell. What the hell happened? I was casting a basic fire spell but instead of the magical energy focusing around my hands, but it literally set them on fire! Oh, Ciephied! It's too hot! TOO HOT!

"DAMMIT! Put them out!" It feels like my hands are being cooked all the way through . . . Gourry . . . where are you? Now I almost feel bad for all of the bandits I've burned to death over the years . . . almost. I ran around like a madwoman only subconsciously realizing that moving around like that only fed the flames.

"AHH!" Pringle screamed. And he jumped behind the Crystal's pedestal. What kind of a high priest is he?

"Miss Lina! You need to calm down so we can put them out for you!" Amelia said while trying desperately to catch hold of me.

"Gaaaah! S-s-shit! L-like hell! Y-you t-try to stand s-t-till while your h-hands are on f-fire!" Then the pain became too much, like a million lit matchsticks tap-dancing inside my hands. I collapsed in a heap from the said pain and the nausea which comes with smelling your own cooking flesh. I landed with my hands first, which in hindsight was not the smartest thing to do. The new wave of pain shot through me like a mono bolt spell and I nearly fell into darkness right then and there. But, knowing that Zel and Gourry needed us helped me win the fight for consciousness. Though, what help I could be with charred bloody lumps for hands I do not know.

"Gracia, hold her still for me," Amelia ordered Naga, and for once, Naga did what she was told without any back talk. She had my mostly limp and whimpering form in her lap and firmly held out my arms.Amelia started to chant some kind of spell. But what kind of a spell could heal THIS kind of damage?

With my arms now fully in front of my face, I could clearly see what I was dreading to see. My hands. . .oh Ciephied my hands. . ..they didn't look like hands anymore. My fingers, the ones the remained anyway, were blackened, shriveled and curled into a fist not of my own making. Parts of my gloves were melted into my hands, mingling with exposed tendons and bone. These aren't mine. . . .are they?

This time, I welcomed the darkness.

Gourry and I exited the Crystals chamber and started our way down the stair to help defend the temple until Amelia and the others could at least come up with one offensive spell. Fat chance. Having just received some of the Crystals power myself, I know that they must be having a hell of a time getting even a spark to appear from their finger tips.

The Crystal said that I would have an even mix of power given to both my innate abilities and magical. I can fee the power, sure, but what good is that if I don't know how to use it?

Calm down, Zelgadis. You can't figure this out if you keep losing your head. Just keep thinking that Amelia needs you to buy her some time. I can figure out my new powers later, if we survive this. After all, we are just defending against a demon lord and her army. . .. Amelia. . .

I think she may have given me another chance. She isn't outright ignoring me anymore, and she even leaned up against me when we first saw the Crystal. Now all I have to do is keep my darker side under wraps when we aren't fighting and I'll be set. And, oddly enough, it doesn't seem that hard anymore, like the Crystal has subdued it, at least a little. It is still there, make no doubt, but it is no longer constantly trying to takeover and lash out against anything that even looks at me funny. I can only hope it last. No, I can only hope that I last.

We could see the battle below us now. Many thousands of beings engaged in mortal combat. Many of the outer defenses were nothing more than heaps of rubble and bodies now and the defenders were badly outnumbered. But the horde hadn't reached the stairs yet, mostly due to the efforts of the Metal Militia who were holding their own and more; They were actually pushing them back, at least the ones in their general vicinity.

The heavily armored platoon and their captain Garirand surrounded the stair well and were making minced meat of any beast that came near them . A few of the remaining Priests were tending to the wounded but they were falling almost as fast as the combatants.

The horde was slowly but surely pushing past the outer defenses and moving toward the stairs. Out of a sudden peculiar urge, I raised my hand out in front of me and aimed at a cluster of trolls clambering over some debris. I chanted some chaos words I didn't even know until that moment and felt the energy gather in my hand. The power was incredible I thought it would burst at any moment so I released the spell at my targets with the word of power.

"FIST WAVE!" A ball of concentrated air zoomed toward the trolls with unerring accuracy detonating in several concussive blasts tearing the doomed trolls apart and knocking over several nearby. The temple's defenders looked around, wondering what the explosion was. Garirand spotted us and gave us a quick salute before going back to hacking apart monsters.

"What was that!? The power the Quartz gave you?" Gourry asked as we continued our way down.

"Yeah, I just knew it would work, though it is a little different than the magic back home."

"How so?"

"I'm not really sure. I guess because it seems to be a lot more powerful. That blast of air I just launched had the same destructive force as a fire ball. That and I don't seem to be drawing the power from anything."

"You think I can do any of that super destructive magicitty stuff?"

"No, I don't think so. . .the Crystal said that it would amplify your natural abilities so I would assume that your already formidable sword fighting skills will be that much greater."

"Strange, I don't feel all that much different. . ." With that he leaped from the stairs, still at least forty feet from the floor with his sword held high above his head.

"Gourry!" I could only watch in dumbfounded fascination as he landed in a concentration of orcs and trolls. I couldn't see him then, and I thought him lost. . .until I saw the ludicrous amounts of blood and body parts spewing from the center of the pile. Doesn't feel any different indeed.

I finally made it to the bottom of the stair, in the more sane walking method mind you, and Gourry was still going at it. The monster gang was thinning rapidly and I thought I wouldn't get any before I could get close enough.

A host of goblins appeared from the entrance then, marching single filed towards me and Gourry. An idea appeared. I began to chant another spell, but instead of focusing the energy in my hands I focused it instead, into the earth. The goblins didn't know what hit them. The ground bucked and heaved, straight lining right to them, knocking them right off of their feet.

I then used my demon speed to attack them before they recovered. Not even bothering to unsheathe my sword I pummeled them with my fist. Flattening the face of the first one, then round house kicking the next two in line. I was dealing out moves and blows that I had only seen Amelia perform, only she wasn't as nearly as fluid or as powerful. So my specialty is the martial arts then? An equal split between the magical and physical? Interesting. Time to really put my new abilities to the test.

I saw some trolls ganging up on one of the archers who got a little too close to the main fighting. He pulled out his side arm, a small dagger, but the look on his face told me he expected to die. I picked up a fallen beast's wooden club and hurled it at the closest troll, which was still a good sixty yards away. It hit and brained him with accuracy that surprised me and gave me an idea.

I sped around with my demonic speed, stopping here and there picking up dropped weapons and throwing them at the beasts. Almost always fatally. The monsters didn't know where the attacks were coming from, and the stupid things split up to find the supposed assailants only to run into Gourry and his deadly, whirling blade or elements of the Metal Militia who were mopping up the remaining enemy.

We regrouped around the stair and waited. No more enemies came in the temple to meet us, though we got the distinct feeling they weren't done with us yet. The remaining priest gathered the wounded and healed whom they could with elixirs and potions and tried to make the mortally wounded's remaining time more comfortable. All together, they were about five hundred of us left. . .out of two thousand. And most of them were the Metal Militia.

Then she appeared. A gorgeous woman, seemingly gliding into the temple with an air of confidence as if she was walking into a tavern to meet with friends. Her feathery blonde hair fluttered slightly as she walked, along with her exotic looking stripped markings along her cheeks and arms, it gave her a wild animalistic vibe.

She also had the vibe of evil. Her gaze drifted about the carnage abound in the temple's main chamber. Her eyes eventually met ours and she grinned as a predator would having cornered her prey.

"Well met, Beastmaster Kari," Garirand greeted her with a mocking tone. He must be either insane or just plain crazy to use such a confrontational tone on a demon of all beings.

"Well met, Garirand," she spat the name as if it tasted bad just getting it out. There was something else too; a slight quiver in her voice, could it have been. . .fear? What would a demon lord have to fear from us? Or is she afraid of Garirand? I looked at the cocky captain, his hands rested easily on the hilts of his sword and dagger seemingly almost eager for a fight.

Garirand. . .there is something familiar about his name. Like I have heard it before or a name very much like it. . .there is something about him, but I can't put my finger on it.

She stopped, halfway between the temple entrance and the stairs and she waited. The tension was getting to the warriors, not knowing when the inevitable fighting would begin.

"There it is," the demon stated and she then withdrew to the astral plane.

"Where what is?" I wondered aloud. Where could she be going? Her main resistance was standing right in front of her. . . unless. . .no.

"LINA!" Gourry yelled as he frantically pushed his way pass the militia. I followed with similar fervor, I don't know if Amelia and the others have succeeded in coming up with some attack spells or not but if Gourry and I have, then it is a safe bet they have as well. Maybe they can hold the Beastmaster off, at least until we get there. Captain Garirand told his men to secure the ground floor and he came charging up the stair with us. All in all a very formidable team that even the most battle hardened would quail at the thought of fighting against.

I do not know what we can do to defeat her.

I awoke to the sounds of steel clanging off of steel and blood curdling death screams. My eyes shot open and I found myself on the floor of the Crystal Chamber, exactly where I was when I. . .uh. . .fainted.

My hands! They may not hurt anymore, maybe because of the spell Amelia was weaving before I blacked out. But what kind of spell would be able to heal such disfiguring damage? I have had many wounds in my life, comes with adventuring I suppose, and they have been healed with conventional and by white magical means. Both methods left scars.

I looked down with apprehension growing with each inch my head lowered. Instead of the charbroiled mess I expected I saw perfectly formed pink flesh.

"What the?"

"Oh, Miss Lina, you're awake!"

"Amelia! What happened to my hands?"

"I healed them."

"Huh? You mean, the power of the Crystal. . .whoa."

"Yes, I figured out rather quickly what you did wrong Miss Lina. You were mistakenly focusing the magical energy into your hands."

"That's how we always done it! I didn't have to much reason to suspect it wouldn't work the same way!"

"I know, I know. But I had my suspicions that it works differently as soon as I saw Gracia extrude vast quantities of invertebrates. And I was convinced of it when your hands caught on fire."

"So what did you do differently?" Amelia, a natural in magic theory? Well, she has come up with her own spells like the Vis Fu Rank, a neat trick that charges your fist with magical demon damaging energy.

"I focused on my target, in this case your hands. And, as you can probably tell, it works!"

"Hmm. . . focus on your target, eh?"

CRASH

The chamber's doors exploded, showering the room with splintered wood. Out from the lingering smoke appeared a woman. Possibly the most striking woman I have ever seen, she could inspire the flames of rivalry in any lady, including Naga. Just what I need. . .someone else to remind me of my inadequacies. She her drifting gaze found the now lifeless Crystal and she frowned. She jerked her head around, facing each of us as if she just noticed we were here.

"Can I help you Miss. . ." Pringle asked still cowering behind the Crystals pedestal.

"Beastmaster." She stated.

"Yes, Miss Beastmaster, can I help. . .you. . .oh dear." Pringle didn't even have time to scream as demonic energy washed over him and he burned into nothingness.

"Mr. Pringle!" Amelia screamed, her distress was quickly sublimated and she quickly took the face of a seasoned warrior. One that was hard earned I might add.

"You are very brave to ignore Naga the White Serpent!" Naga "boinged" infront of the Beastmaster. Luckily, the demon didn't notice that comment.

"The Crystal?! It has already been drained!?" The Beastmaster screeched. She looked as if she was going to rend the temple to it very foundations. As experience tells, demon lords are capable of doing that and so much more. "That must mean you are the famed Warriors of Light, well, let's see what powers your weakling gods have bestowed upon you." Oh boy.

Amelia withdrew her bow, what she planned to do with it against the Beastmaster, I have no idea. Maybe she has a plan?

Well, apparently Naga had a plan as she started to do that strange spasmodic dance of hers. What is she going to summon this time I wonder? I also wonder if the demon lord standing not more than 10 feet across from her will kill her before Naga finishes her spell.

I got up on my still woozy legs, the healing spell Amelia used apparently doesn't restore your energy like the ones back home do. I saw that Amelia had put her bow away and was frantically chanting a spell.

The Beastmaster was preparing to attack as well.

She gathered two balls of demonic power in her hands and she set her gaze squarely on the seizure-like antics of Naga. I need to do something, anything. I started to chant a spell. I hope this works.

"Ice!" Magical ice surrounded the demons hands just as she was about to launch her attack on the still dancing bikini model.

"The hells? You think that low level attack can hurt me?" She flexed her hands and the ice shattered in an instant. Then she didn't hesitate to strike at Naga.

"Protect!" Amelia's spell was complete and the BeastMaster's hand bounced off of an invisible shield surrounding Naga.

"What!?"

Naga's spell was also complete.

"Summon Lobsters!" Oh Great Ciephied.

The few dozen arthropods Naga the White Idiot brought to this place tried there best against the demon lord, but alas, they were just lobsters. They may have succeeded in confusing the demon though.

"Gracia! That's it!? I thought you were going to do something cool!"

"I agree," said the BeastMaster. "That was rather anti-climatic."

"You shouldn't have underestimated Naga the White Serpent! COMBINE!" To my eyes ever growing amazement the little sea creatures stacked atop one another to form a man-sized warrior!

The BeastMaster wasn't impressed. She flicked a little ball of power that turned the lobster man into a delicious smelling mess plastered to the wall. I promptly hit Naga over the head then.

"IDIOT! What did ya think LOBSTERS would DO!?"

"Enough of this! It is time for you all to die!" Ah nuts.

The demon disappeared into the Astral Plane. We all looked about nervously as we had no idea where she would reappear. A favorite tactic of the demons, disappear to there home plane and then reappear when you least expect it. Amelia looked especially tense; she had something like this happen to her before. A few years ago, when we were searching for the Claire Bible, we were attacked by a demon called Seygram. He emerged from the Astral Plane right behind poor Amelia and slashed her back and belly open. She wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for a golden dragon named Milgasia who used his extremely powerful healing magic to restore her.

But some scars remain.

Then my head felt as if it exploded.

We came to the top of the stairs and dashed into the Crystal Chamber just in time to see Lina take a nasty blow to the head courtesy of the Beastmaster. She crashed against a wall a full thirty feet away crumpling lifelessly on the floor.

"Lina!" Gourry leaped between the injured (I hope) woman and the demon, sword swinging complex circles looking for an opening in the demon's wild defense. The demon seemed to grow tired of him and blasted him against a wall, sending chunks of marble bouncing along the floor. Then she noticed the Captain.

"Garirand! Do you mean to face me?" The demon looked rather spooked, her eyes darting this way and that. Why can't she just withdraw to the Astral Plane if she is so frightened?

I rushed over to Amelia and Naga who was looked liked they didn't know what to do.

"What are you two doing!? Lina and Gourry need our help!" Honestly, what's up with them now? I took a closer look at them and saw that Amelia seemed to be in a state somewhere between awe and fear. Naga just looked confused. . .yet oddly smug.

"You guys?"

Amelia pointed her finger across the room. "Look, Mr. Zelgadis."

I followed her gaze and nearly fell into a stupor as well. The Beastmaster had changed into her true form, sprouting another pair of arms, forgoing her legs for a serpent-like tail and now covered completely in green scales. She wielded four scimitars, one for each hand and was twirling them in complex defensive and offensive weaves.

But that was not what stunned us. It was Garirand, or more accurately, what he was doing. He was fighting the demon lord to a standstill. No, he is actually gaining the upper hand! Small streams of black miasma that demons used for blood were appearing here and there everywhere on the Beastmaster. While they are tied up. . .

"Amelia, go help Gourry, he's closer. I'll see what I can do for Lina."

"Right!"

"Ahem."

". . .You go help Amelia." What could Naga the boastful nothing do? Even if she has gained some of the Crystal's power, can she use it in an effective manner? Better that she stays out of the way for now. If she tries something, who knows, she may piss me off again.

I got to Lina and turned her over on her back, giving her a once over. Ouch! She's going to feel that when she wakes up. A wicked gash across her temple caked her head in blood and marble dust. I ripped off part of my cloak for lack of anything better and dressed her wound. I glanced across the chamber and saw that Amelia casting some type of spell with Naga trying to give her some pointers. Despite Naga's advice, Gourry woke up in a start, and saw Lina and I. He tried to get up, but his legs failed him, dropping him face first on the floor.

"Gah!"

I whipped around to view where Garirand and Kari were fighting. I didn't like what I saw.

Somehow, the Beastmaster managed to cut off one of Garirand's arms. But instead of blood, his shoulder stump spewed black miasma. A demon! What a minute. . .I remember Xellos saying something about a missing demon lord. . . "The only one missing is the Dynast Garland who, as far as our spies have told us, is a nonfactor due to his disappearance."

Dynast Garland. . .Garland, Garirand! It all makes sense now! But wait. . .why would he be going against his own kind? Some kind of grievance against one of the other lords? If so what kind of betrayal or insult would be sufficient enough to turn a demon completely on our side? But, maybe he isn't COMPLETELY on our side. Maybe his is just using us, like Xellos did and still does, for his own goals.

The Beastmaster, about to deliver the killing blow was caught very much unaware when Gourry charged into her, throwing her off balance enough for her to miss the injured captain completely. The demon hissed and swatted Gourry to the floor.

Lina stirred in my arms.

"W-What? GOURRY!" She tried to go to him, but I held her back, knowing she couldn't do anything in her condition.

The blonde swordsman was back on his feet facing down the seething demon lord with his great sword at the ready. The demon raised her hand, palm facing Gourry. A look of triumph flashed across Kari's demonic visage.

"MOVE YOU JELLY FISH!" Lina screamed, while struggling out of my grasp and rushing to her beloved.

A flash of light and a deafening crack of thunder spelled the end for Gourry Gabrieve of the Elemekian Empire, Swordsman of Light.

"NO!" Amelia screeched, she dropped to her knees and started to sob.

Naga, for once, looked as if she had lost her voice. For the first time since I have met her, defeat, instead of overbearing confidence showed in her know sad blue eyes.

Lina stopped. She just stood there, staring into the space Gourry once stood. She began to tremble uncontrollably, her body shaking so bad I briefly thought she would literally fall apart. She stopped and quickly as she started.

Then silence. Complete and utter. Time seemed to just stop. As if the Lord of Nightmares decided that our misery should be drawn out as long as it can.

Amelia had stopped crying, my dear Amelia, trying to be as brave as Gourry in death in her grief.

Naga now had the fire of vengeance in her eyes, replacing the loss and defeat. But she also looked frustrated, she knows she can't do anything about this situation. Another first for her I assume.

Garirand's arm grew back, that bastard used are sorrow to his own advantage. Just like Xellos.

The Beastmaster, slayer of one of the greatest men I had ever known stood there, smiling, taking in the negative emotions that permeated the air.

Lina screamed.

Lina screamed a heart-wrenchingly raw scream that cursed her existence, displayed her anger, and mourned for her lost love all in the same yell.

"Hahaha! Do not worry little one, for you will soon join him in the Sea of Chaos!" The sickeningly hateful creature boasted. I'd love to show her where to put those extra arms of her right about now.

A fierce light enveloped Lina just then, bright enough that even the Beastmaster had to shield her eyes. The light was an odd shade of golden yellow, alien yet familiar somehow. . .oh no. She didn't! I didn't hear her speak the words! How could she have used it!?

The Beastmaster remained unimpressed, probably to her demise I thought, knowing what had become of Lina. She had only done this once before, in the destroyed city of Sairaag. Kari launched a volley of demonic power at 'Lina', and to my not so total surprise she deflected it away with but a simple gesture, sending the energy blasting threw the roof.

The Beastmaster didn't take a hint and continued to barrage the golden being with every manner of energy attack imaginable. She still did not let a single one touch her, or anyone else in the room for that matter. I have yet to see any of us dodge or duck away from stray bolts or power.

The thing that stole Lina's body gestured and Kari's body contracted wildly for a moment and then froze. She struggled mightily, she couldn't make a move but her eyes should the massive conflict between the two powers.

"What? H-How?! A m-mere human!?" The demon strangled.

The Lina thing spoke with a voice not unlike Lina's, but only richer, more resonant.

"I hold a piece of She who is Darker than Darkest Dusk. I hold a piece of She who is Blacker than Deepest Pitch. I heed only unto She who Shines as Gold upon the Sea of Chaos. I am Her servant. I am a Knightmare."

The demon knew fear.

He woke up with a start his mind filling with confusion and fear. Lovely. He began to wander around his new surroundings, a barren wasteland with only a solitary tower climbing skyward in the distance, calling for his friends, despair growing heavier with each unanswered call. Delicious.

He did this for an ungravatingly long time until he finally asked the question I have been waiting for.

"WHERE THE HELL AM I!?"

"That is a secret," I replied.

To be Continued.

Author's Notes: Creepy, eh? I hope that Lina's transformation wasn't too dragon ball z'esque. But, I think it works. Tell me what you think, or I'll hurt you! Stay tuned until next month for the next chapter; "The Road Goes Ever On; And So Does Naga."


	8. Chapter 7

Slayers: Final

Chapter Seven

Fragility

(Yes I know it's different from my preview.)

I looked upon Lina's limp form with worry and relief. Relief that she was not taken away by the Lord of Nightmares as I feared she would and that she had managed to defeat the demon lord Kari, the Beastmaster.

Worry, because she hasn't moved since she collapsed onto the floor since she destroyed the demon. That was over an hour ago. During that time the former demon lord Garirand excused saying he was going to excess the losses to the temple after congratulating us, of course (probably because that is one less enemy at his back rather than what this means too the world).

Amelia has tried to cast a few healing spells but that was to no avail. Naga then, tried to wake Lina up by pointing out the greater many differences in relation to their respective figures. Even I thought that might have work, we all know how sensitive Lina is about her looks, petty as they may be.

I heard some stone cracking and looked around the ruined marble chamber.

"We need to get out of here, this place isn't safe anymore," I said as I scooped up Lina and began to lead the rest down the none too stable looking stairway. Not the most comfortable perch for her, I know, but my strength reserves will outlast the girls easily. I'll just deal with a cranky Lina when she wakes up. _If she wakes up. . .._

We made our way down the spiral staircase with trepidation, it looked as though it would collapse at any minute.

CREAK

Our fears became reality as if planned from the start! The stair well was crumbling from the bottom up, much too fast for are liking. Quickly looking back the way we came it was clear that we wouldn't make it in time.

The stairs fell out from under us and I braced myself and Lina as much as I could for the inevitable drop.

Nothing happened. I glanced down at the disconcerting sight of all us (except Lina who I was still carrying) was standing in mid-air! The dropped section of stairs crashed with a jarring sound only marble could make and looking at the rubble with nothing supporting my feet left me with a question.

"What the hell?" I wittily ventured. Amelia let out a relieved sigh.

"I Cast a floating spell when I saw the stairs begin to collapse," she explained.

"Well, can we move like this? I would feel rather silly if we had too wait around like this just to eventually fall again."

"I don't know."

"Amelia-"

"Oooohohohoho! This is fun! Amelia, you should have cast this hours ago!" Naga was upside down and flying around backwards, having a blast at the most inappropriate time imaginable. Well, at least we now know we can control our movements.

After a few moments I discovered that it wasn't too different from flying with a Rei Wing spell. Amelia figured it out about the same time I did and we all quickly descended the rest of the way down. At least we would have if the spell hadn't given out about ten feet above the ground.

Garirand was there to meet us at the entrance along with the remnants of the Metal Militia and some surviving temple personnel.

"What ever you are going to say, please save it until we are alone," the demon lord whispered to me. I left the girls telling the conscious ones to restock our supplies with what they could find and I then followed the demon outside the temple and under a low hanging cliff.

"You know what I am then," not so much a question than a statement if you ask me.

"Yes, you are Dynast Garland, a demon lord."

"And. . .this does not bother you?" It may have been my imagination but, he sounded almost hopeful to me. Very strange.

"I wouldn't say that. It is just that every time we find a demon helping us, he either twists our goals to suite his own or bites us in the ass completely. I am just wary of your intentions." Take our overly smug Xellos for instance. Speaking of Xellos, where is that bastard, anyways?

"I see, it is a matter of trust then. I don't blame you, who'd believe that a demon, much less a demon lord, would turn completely against his own kind?" He probably got backstabbed and is out for revenge, using any means necessary, of course.

He continued, "Do you even know why I help these mortals? Why I help preserve this world and your own as well?"

"I can imagine."

"No I don't believe you can," He rolled up his sleeve on the arm that was previously severed, revealing a red scar tissue circumnavigating his former wound.

"What the hell?" Demons don't get scars. Hell, they don't even get bruises as they don't fully exist on the prime material plane, therefore they don't have blood as us mortals know it. Something is very wrong here.

"Exactly my first thoughts when I first discovered scarring. It was a different wound, much smaller, but no less shocking to me." He seemed to be sad but there was an edge of excitement in his voice, a slither of anticipation.

"You see, Mr. Greywhyrs, I believe I am becoming human." Whoa.

"How? How is that possible!?" For a demon to become human. . .I've never heard of such a thing. . . or I would have tried to discover the methods long ago.

"I'm not really sure, but it began soon after I came into contact with the gate to your world. You see, my former colleagues had decided to turn against our master plan of world destruction and opted for domination in its stead. I tried to stop them by destroying the gate, but they caught me before I could and they decided to test the gate on me.

"They threw me in and I was sucked into your world at the exact moment the original Darkstar gate began to collapse. I barely made it back before the gate was completely destroyed. And when I did return, my former allies were long gone."

"But how did that begin your change? Nothing happened to us when we went through."

"I do not know. Perhaps it is because another powerful being was using it at the time, or perhaps it was just the gate itself, we can never know for sure know.

"But because know that I am partly human now, I have begun to see things in a different light than any demon would. Before, when I looked upon mortals, I saw food, I saw entertainment. Now I see a tormented peoples caught up in a war that has really nothing to do with them. I want to help them, Zelgadis. I want to help them because I now know what it is to be mortal! I now know what it is to fear having your own already short life cut even shorter because something more powerful than you wishes it

"That and maybe because I am becoming human in more than just body. . .."

He didn't finish, he did not need to, I found myself believing him. It wasn't just his scars, though to many that would have been proof enough, but it was the conviction and complete sincerity in his voice that clinched it for me. I still believe he may have an ulterior motive, but I do not think it is to cause harm to any of us.

I excused myself and headed back to the temple to help the girls gather supplies for the road ahead, and their will be a road. It's just that Xellos has not shown up to tell us where to go yet.

"Hello!" I spoke too soon.

Seeing the supposed priest smile like he always does, even after what had just happened almost made me lose it.

"What is it now, Xellos? Ready to send another one of us to his death?"

"Whatever do you mean my dear, Zelgadis?"

"You know EXACTLY what I mean! Gourry is. . .Gourry is dead! And it is your fucking fault because you sent us to this gods-forsaken place!" Not exactly true, but I need to vent my rage and what better target to shout obscenities at than Xellos?

"Oh dear. You mean to say that Mr. Gabrieve is no more? That's terrible news! Whatever shall we do without him?! It's as if the very heaven shall fall for my sorrow is so great! I-"I wasn't sure what was worse; his overly melodramatic voice or his equally ludicrous gestures.

"Okay, that's enough! Spare me your mock pity. We all know that you could care less if one of us should die."

"Don't say that! Not only would it pain me greatly if one of you should die, but it would also set back our quest quite a bit." Something didn't seem right about the way he spoke that sentence. . .

"Yeah, whatever, why have you come then?"

"I have directions for you."

"Where, to the next Crystal?"

"Not exactly. . ."

"Xello-"

"It is to someone who can get you to the next Crystal. From the temple, head due north until you hit a mountain range. Then keep the mountains to your right and march on to the coast where the range ends. From there head north again following the coast until you find a village. Ask about a man named 'Cid'."

"Cid? Is he the one who'll take us to the next temple?"

"Possibly. Anyways, I have brought something to help you on your journey." I followed his gaze behind me and found another one of those diahrea birds in all of its giant, yellow feathered glory.

"Xellos, you know we can't eat those things with destroying our lower intestinal tract."

"Of course I do! You see though, the people of this land have discovered a rather remarkable use for these birds. In fact it's no wonder you haven't figured it out yet."

"What?" I was clueless, what else can you use a giant chicken for besides eating? Making the world's largest throw pillow?

"People use them as steeds my dense as a rock friend."

"Oh." I wanted to kick myself for being "dense as a rock" (ha ha, Xellos). Even more so when I noticed the bridal secured on the birds beak. This would help. Maybe we can rig a sled or something for Lina and our supplies. Wait a minute. . .there's always some kind of horrible catch when dealing with Xellos.

"This thing doesn't have rabies or something, does it?"

"Hmpf! I'm not even going to dignify that with a response!" With that he vanished, leaving me with more than a few questions I didn't get a chance to ask.

"What did you mean, if any of us should die? One of us did. . .." I spoke aloud and I thought I heard the faint words 'That is a secret', but it may have just been the wind blowing softly through the desert canyons.

My big sister and I scrounged through the remaining supplies in the store house, taking whatever may be of use to us. But somehow, I doubt vast quantities of alcohol should be counted among the essentials as I repeatedly told Gracia as she stuffed bottle after bottle into her pack.

I don't know what to do with her. . .it's been years since she ran away from the castle, leaving father and I alone, still grieving for mother. Years of not knowing what became of her, not even a whisper (though I thought I might have caught a glimpse of her at the docks of San Doria a few years back). After three years of nothing, even father finally gave up, and he is the most vigilant of persevering man I know.

Then I finally meet up with her, traveling with Miss Lina and. . .Mr. Gourry in our mother's battle bikini no less (thank Ciephied)! I was so happy, I couldn't believe she was still alive! But also I was sad and a little angry that she didn't try to contact me or father. As we traveled together though, I slowly began to realize that she isn't the same proud but caring and very artistic sister I used to know.

She is still proud in a way I suppose, but instead of her pride stemming from her self-esteem and station as crown princess of Seyruun it seems to be more or less (okay, more) related to her imbibing from her flask at a scarily steady rate. What the hell happened to her? She left soon after mother was assassinated, taking very provisions and our mother's old adventuring outfit. But we didn't know she had left until a few days later as she had spent the previous days locked in her room.When we finally broke down the door and found the room in perfect order, as if it hadn't been used in ages. The only thing missing was Gracia, in her stead was a note that said "Do no trouble yourselves looking for me, I will not be able to set foot in this kingdom again.".

What did she mean by that? Was the memory of mother's death to painful for her to stay in the castle? Or is it something else? Looking at her now, she does not seem to be too depressed, merrily sorting through boxes and shelves for whatever spirits she can find.

Glancing at the collection of bottles and flasks that would make even the most well stocked bartender flush with jealousy. I wonder how she plans to carry all of those? Mr. Zelgadis walked in then, looking a little more pensive than usual. I wonder what Mr. Garirand said to him?

"How's the supply situation?" he asked while sorting through some scrap wood piled up in a corner.

"There isn't too much left but I did manage to find some salted pork, I think, at least it smells like pork, kind of. . ."

"Good. Anything else?"

"Well. . ." I pointed over to the pile of booze and if you squinted you could see my sister through the liquor tower, thoroughly examining each bottle as a critic would a collection of art.

"Figures. Hey, Naga! Do want to help us getting some real supplies? Or do you still want to be the most useless member of our happy little party?"

"Zelgadis!" Why is he always knocking her every chance he gets?

"What are you saying!? Spirits are essential in keeping up morale!" Naga strode up to Zelgadis with a full flask of some kind of booze. She stopped and drained the whole thing in a few long gulps. "How do you plan on stopping me from taking these?"

Mr. Zelgadis stared at he hard. He put raised his hand and pointed it at the mountain of bottles. "Ki Fist Wave!" The bottles shattered under the concussive force showering the room with glass and liquid.

"That's how," he broke off eye contact with Gracia and walked towards the exit. He gave me the briefest looks of apology and he gathered up his bundle of wood and left, leaving a stunned Gracia and I wondering what the heck just happened here.

We finished getting our supplies without another word, both of us lost in our own thoughts. We then built a sled for Lina and our supplies. We couldn't make any wheels so we made wide skis so it would have an easier time over rough terrain, which we will run into if we our going over the mountains Mr. Zelgadis told us about.

We set off the next morning along side the remaining temple personnel and the Metal Militia which surprised us as we thought we would be going out alone. We are to travel together until we reach the mountains where we will split up, we the Light Warriors (still sounds cool if you ask me) will head west and the others will go east to another hidden stronghold where they would get directions to the next temple. The reason why we have to split is because we (Zel, Gracia and Ms. Lina) have become high profile targets after we killed that demon Kari. It would just be safer for the others to travel with us only as long as they could. I wonder if we will see Mr. Garirand again after we had parted?He seems like a good and just person, if a bit haughty.

The journey would take nearly a month to get to the mountains according to Mr. Garirand who has a map of the region. So we all did what we could be make to trip more comfortable for us all. Naga summoned seafood to help save our steadily dwindling supplies which actually scored her a few points in Mr. Zelgadis's book, I think. She actually stared to carve little, incredibly detailed figurines made out of fallen branches which I think are pretty neat, she carved them for everyone in the caravan saying "Soon, all will know the artistic genius of Naga the White Serpent!", but, as much as it hurts to say it, I believe she is just trying to ignore her headaches she's had ever since she has stopped drinking. At least, except for the unbridled arrogance, she is starting to act like the sister I used to know.

Mr. Garirand knew the land better than any of us, obviously, so became the defacto leader for our group. He picked out defensible places to rest and set camp and often scouted ahead to check for any trouble, leaving Mr. Zelgadis in charge during those expeditions. He seems to be a natural leader, even picking up on his men's emotions and giving them the duties they would be best suited for at the

time.

Ms. Lina remained unconscious, so laid her on a thin mattress of blankets on the chocobo drawn sled. We tied her down when we found out that the road wasn't as smooth after the desert as we thought it was and poor Lina was knocked off the sled, leaving a nasty looking bruise. We can only pray that it fades before it wakes up, as there is nothing worse than a cranky Lina. But. . .that is assuming that. . .she does wake up. I have never seen Ms. Lina like she was when Mr. Gourry died, sure it was similar when she was possessed by the Golden Lord of Nightmares, I think, at least she looked the same as then.

Was it that the sheer power she commanded knocked her out for so long or was it the emotional stress? Or maybe both? If I could use the powers I had back on our world I'd try a recovery spell, but, we'll just have to wait in this situation and pray.

Mr. Zelgadis, for the most part, brooded. He hasn't let anyone near him, even me, lately. It's as if he is lost in his own world, constantly brooding, even when he has been left in charge. But he hasn't completely shutdown, I don't think. He has continued to update his map he started when we first got here. It actually proved to be useful when we were crossing the desert again. Something is bothering him. He hasn't said what yet, but I believe it has something to do with what Mr. Garirand said to him. But what could he have said to turn Mr. Zelgadis back into the introvert I worked so hard to get to open up a little?

I have to find a way to get him out of his shell, I have to for his own sake. If he keeps on acting like this I fear he will revert back to killing people who don't really deserve it. I know he doesn't want that, but how to reach him?

The last time I got him to talk I practically forced him to, though I think he really wanted to bear his soul to me, he wouldn't have otherwise, he is just stubborn like that. But, I don't think that dragging him to the nearest log, sitting him down and interrogating him is going to work this time. He seems to be too much on the defensive for anything that blunt. Maybe I can subtly coerce some of his thoughts from him during dinner?

Later that evening, just before twighlight, we set camp in a clearing in the middle of a copse of thick trees Mr. Garirand found earlier in one of his scouting expeditions. It was a large area, but with only one clear opening, easily defensible.

Naga summoned some lobsters, and while they were cooking I went to find Mr. Zelgadis. I found him relatively quickly after scaling the highest tree with the most uncluttered view of the camp ground. He was behind some tents with a lantern, working on his map and occasionally looking to the stars.

I walked to him, making sure it didn't seem like I was sneaking up on him by dragging my feet slightly as I walked, something his sensitive ears would be sure to pick up.

"Mr. Zelgadis?" I started. And my surprise was complete when he literally jumped out of his seat and stated to go for his sword. How did I startle him like that? Is he that lost in himself now?

"Yes, Amelia?" His cold tone made me cringe, he seemed to notice and he visibly relaxed, gathering up his dumped map and writing tools and taking his seat.

"How's the map coming along?" I can't be obvious about my intentions, now can I?

"Amelia, somehow I doubt you came to talk about my map, and it's coming along by the way."

"Am I really that easy to read?"

"Yes. Now please hurry, it's almost my lookout sift."

"Well, since I can't be subtle, apparently, I guess I have to verbally beat you over the head then," I took a few deep breaths, how am I going to do this without offending him too much? "You've been, acting a little odd, lately and-"

"Odd, is it? Well, it looks like you aren't going to stop pestering me unless I give you some kind of an answer," He stood up, looking me face to face. "Don't worry yourself over me, Amelia, it would be better for all of us if you would just forget about me."

"What are you talking about?" I croaked out, I didn't expect things to go this bad! What did I say!?

"I'm saying that there is no use trying to change me. I am what you see me now, a heartless sorcerer swordsman. There is nothing to be had in a relationship with me." He turned to leave.

"W-wait! Was it something I did?! What about your humanity? Why won't you let me help you!?" I was practically sobbing, as unheroic as it looked, I couldn't help it. The man I have decided to love was telling me to get lost!

He turned to face me. His face showed the briefest flashes of regret as he spoke the words I'll never recover from hearing.

"I don't love you."

He left me on my knees, crying only as when my mother died.

Author's Notes. - Is it me, or have I been torturing these characters a little too much lately? Alas, it is for the sake of character development, though!

When's Lina going to wake up? What the hell is going on with Zel now? Is Naga going to become the next Wolfgang Puck? Stay tuned next time when a certain General Priest (no not THAT one) comes looking to avenge his fallen master and a certain engineer that shows up just in the nick of time, no less!

About the sporadic updates: School and work has been eating up my spare time like nobodies business. That and I am helping my old Marine recruiter whip some new recruits into shape to help them get ready for boot camp. On top of friends, family and other personal interest, I haven't been able to write as much per week as I used to.

But, please be patient. I plan to finish this project and start work on a new one eventually. One that is pure Final Fantasy and like this one (I like to think), completely different from anything else out there.

Keep reviewing! And if anyone would like to proof read these for me, just email me. Because my grammar sucks and so does Corel Word Perfects!

Tom the Mighty


	9. Chapter 8

Slayers: Final

Chapter 8

Beware of Angry Fire Demons and Perverts

I feel like trash.

I just told the only person who had ever shown me anything beyond normal friendship that I do not love her.

But, it is for the best. I have to lessen the blow. I have to make sure that no one will miss me when it happens. I have to become the cold, heartless swordsman I once was, before I met any of them.

I feel like trash.

She cried throughout the night. She tried to hide it, and for the most part, succeeded as no one in the camp heard her I believe. But to my overly sensitive ears, it seemed like she was sobbing uncontrollably against my shoulder.

And what is worse is that I let myself feed off of her misery.

We are moving north again, still a week and more away from the mountain range. I avoid everyone now, talking only when spoken to and even then in just short, concise answers. I can't let anyone else get close to me. I can't let anyone else be hurt due to my departure in the near future.

Sooner or later a demon will come along, then I can set my plan into motion.

I feel like trash.

What did I do to make Mr. Zelgadis hate me? I replay all the conversations we have had over the last month, but nothing comes to mind.

I feel like trash.

I cried all night. I couldn't help it. It felt like my emotional skeleton got ripped out of me, so I just collapsed. I still can't believe it.

This whole adventure has been nothing but a disaster. Friends have died, friends have been hurt, and I don't even know if the Light Warriors will be together for long. Mr. Zelgadis won't even look at me, and Gracia is too busy being her pompous arrogant self, and Ms. Lina is in a coma. Even Boco, the chocobo drawing our sled, seemed a little depressed, offering only unenthusiastic 'kwehs' and whistles.

And I can't do anything about it. I haven't felt this helpless since the time HellMaster was killing me as I lied limp in Zelgadis's arms. I good way to die, I suppose. But, right now, that doesn't seem like a possibility. There must be something I can do! I just haven't thought of it yet. Yeah, that's it! It'll all come together in time. If we can all hold together long enough for that to happen, though.

The future seems as bleak as the darkening sky. It'll rain soon, even the sky feels like weeping I guess.

CRACKOW!

What the? Was that thunder? It couldn't be. . .it sounded so close yet the clouds are still miles away!

BOOM!

I was swiftly lifted off of my feet and landed some distance from where I was a moment ago.

_Attack?_ I thought as soon as I came to my senses. When my vision cleared, I could see that we were under attack! From someone we haven't seen since the darkstar gate, Ragnazzo.

He was floating in the sky, glowing videly red, even redder than his fiery robes, he must be pissed! He began launching energy projectiles at anything that moved, scattering the caravan like sand in the wind.

Garirand ordered his men to gather as many refugees as they could and head for the enclave without him. Trusting their commander they began their task without question. In a matter of moments the incredibly disciplined unit gathered the terrified people into several small groups and started to head to the west, to sanctuary.

Gracia? Where is my sister? I can see Mr. Zelgadis and Garirand, but Gracia is nowhere in sight. I hope she didn't get hit in the first barrage. . .but, I won't be able to do anything for her if I get myself killed standing out in the open like this.

I found some cover in a shallow, but thick with tangled weeds, ditch. After surveying the battle field, I saw that Ms. Lina was the most vulnerable, lying in the open with nothing between her and a grisly death. Boco, still reined to the sled, become petrified and simply slumped over, fainting away.

Mr. Garirand and Zelgadis, busy facing down the demon, didn't notice Lina's predicament, and soon began the fight in full.

"You killed my master!" the crazed demon shrieked, launching himself into an offensive fury, sending energy balls in almost every direction conceivable. While not as powerful as a full Demon Lord, Cagnazzo is still very power and dangerous, he could kill us all if we aren't careful!

Well this warrior and justice is not going to let anymore friends die! I lept from my hiding place and began launching protection spells at Garirand and Zelgadis first, as they were the most in danger form Ragnazzo's attacks. I don't think the spell will hold against a direct hit, but at least it'll offer some protection against glancing blows and flying debris kicked up by the numerous explosions. Mr. Garirand and Zelgadis, now realizing they are a little more better off than they were, began to fight in earnest as well.

I then began to cast the spell on Ms. Lina but, to my ultimate horror, a stray bolt of energy detonated right next to the sled, shattering it and sending Lina and Boco flying limply in different directions. Boco landed with a sickening crunch and settled with his neck bent at an angle that wasn't natural. Lina, though, landed in the same ditch I was just hiding in.

Zelgadis and Garirand were still fighting the demon, but it didn't look like either of them was gaining the upper hand. Seeing that they were completely preoccupied with their battle, I made a mad dash to Lina, hoping I'll make it to her before Ragnazzo sees me.

I almost made it.

_AMELIA!_

I saw her get running out in the open out the corner of my eye, and I also saw Ragnazzo take aim and fire.

The bolt detonated at her feet and I lost sight of her amidst the fire and debris. I felt her pain, her suffering, her absolute confusion and fear at what had just happened to her and I let myself feed to regain some of the stamina I had lost fighting the vengeance minded demon. I do anything for her until I defeat the demon, so it is justified as I can't defeat the demon unless I have a steady stream of negative energy flowing into me.

I felt intense pressure around my tail bone, but I couldn't let that bother me now. Garirand was busy holding off the demon with his swords and I took the opportunity to strike at Ragnazzo's exposed back. But then I realized that this may be the best opportunity to start my plan. I began to establish a mental link with the demon, being careful not to distract so much as to give Garirand an chance to defeat it.

But I never got that far.

Multiple flying fish with wicked looking teeth flew out of nowhere and began to rip eagerly into Ragnazzo's flesh, spilling black blood onto the ground.

"What!? What is this!? You think you can defeat me like this!?" the demon screeched as he began to swat away at the attached creatures. But most had begun to let go anyways, zipping along at incredible speed to where Amelia fell. Garirand, began his assault on the demon anew, looking my way in a manner that bespoke his confusion at my apparent refusal to help him.

Now, more curious than mad, at my plan's delay, I watched as the fish-things descended upon the battered Amelia, enveloping her. When they withdrew only a few moments later, they revealed a confused looking but a healthy Amelia! I had my answer as to what happened a second later.

"Ooohohohoho!"

Where the hell has she been hiding?

"Who are you laughing at, BITCH!?" Ragnazzo launched a flurry of punches and kicks on Garirand, sending him flying. Then began to charge up an attack which, more than likely, will directed at the inflatable buffoon.

Now's my chance!

I awoke to the sight of a hundred razor toothed fish (fish! I hate fish!)infront of my face. Thoroughly freaked out, I jumped to my feet, wondering what was going on. The fish disappeared to my relief as soon as I woke up. For some reason, my sister comes to mind.

"Ooohohohoho!" Okay, then.

I thought I was headed to Lina? That's right, she got thrown in an explosion like a rag doll. But then, everything went dark. No time to be asking questions! I need to get to Ms. Lina and help her if I can. . .if she's even still alive.

I ran to the weed entangled ditch where Lina landed, searching frantically through the thick growth. I stepped on something soft and I found her! But she didn't look good, not at all. Her small body was punctured by many splinters, big and small, from the exploded sled. Her skin was taking on a grayish hue, and her lip were turning blue from either lack of oxygen or blood loss. Either one would kill her just as quick if I didn't do something faster.

I started to pull out the larger shards of wood and used small healing spells to close up the wounds. I can only hope that these spells replace lost blood like they do at home. . .I stole a glance at the continuing battle and found that Mr. Zelgadis was just. . .standing there? All the while, poor Mr. Garirand was taking massive abuse from the enraged demon.

I thought I would have to step in when it looked like Ragnazzo was about to deliver the killing blow, but it never came to that. An intense flash of light blinded me. When my vision finally cleared, what left of Ragnazzo was quickly dissolving to dust, next to a visibly shaken Garirand.

I looked around, trying to find the source of the light. I saw nothing on the ground, even Mr. Zelgadis was searching for the cause, even if he does look more than a little annoyed. With nothing on the ground I looked up. And I found myself looking at the hull of a caravel floating in mid-air!

At least, think it is a caravel. It kind of looked like a Seyruun schooner in retrospect. But, with a large spherical object tethered above the deck and a larger than normal rudder that appeared to be made of the same material as a sail. Also, and must peculiarly, was the protrusions jutting out from either side of the impossibly floating vessel. They were roughly ovoid with cut off tops with odd, barely visible circles that made a loud humming sound on top.The most prominent feature however, was the long, silver cannon set on the bow. More than likely that was what caused Cagnazzo's demise.

The ship landed on it's sled-like skids a hundred yards away on a flat clearing. I found Gracia right next to me (she must have came when I was engage with the ship) and we carefully carried Lina to the most unusual schooner. Surprisingly, Gracia didn't so much as flinch at the sight of Lina's blood soaked clothing, instead she set her teeth and looked straight ahead, with a look of determination in her eyes. Looking at Lina's grey complexion just made even more anxious to get to the ship. Mr. Zelgadis and Mr. Garirand met us there and we waited for our savior to make his appearance. I hope he has something that can help Ms. Lina.

We didn't have to wait long, just a few short moments later a tall figure appeared on top of the ship's deck. He was an elf! I think. If that is what they are called here. His pointy ears and too handsome looks gave that away. His spiky blonde hair glinted in the sun as he smiled and waved at us. He then jumped down to the ground, rolling as he hit to soften the landing.

"Hello! Not too bad timing if I do say so myself! My name's Cid, pleased to meet you all!"

Upon closer inspection (as he got right into our faces and vigorously shook each of our hands) he was not like any elf I have ever seen before. Sure his physical features are elvish, sharp, angular and just plain beautiful but his clothing was something I've never seen an elf wear, or anyone else for that matter. He wore some kind of a blue jump suit with literally dozens of pockets, some looked as if they originally belonged there, others were haphazardly sewn in. The pockets were bulging, filled with all kinds of strange looking devices and some that I could at least recognize, like hammers and screw drivers.

"So what are you, an elf?"

"Mr. Zelgadis! Don't be rude!" Does he plan on making enemies of everyone now? "We are all thankful for your timely help, Mr. Cid."

"Ooohohoho! It wouldn't have been necessary in a few minutes! I was just beginning to prepare a massive summon spell!" Gracia just had to say.

"Oh, what would you have done? Summon an anthropomorphic potato?" Naga looked oddly reminiscent over what was obviously a jab at her skills.

"That's enough Zelgadis! We don't have time for this! Not only are we being rude to our rescuer, need I remind you the Ms. Lina is seriously hurt here!" Whoa. I actually yelled at Mr. Zelgadis! I feel kind bad for it but he really needed that I think.

"A woman's hurt! Out of my way!" Cid dashed pass us so fast to Lina that we actually spun on our heels a few times. He checked her pulse and then gently lifted her into his arms. "She doesn't look good. Come into my ship, I have something that may help her."

We boarded his, uh, vessel and discovered what had to be the tackiest place in the multiverse. Leopard skin chairs, mood lamps, a round bed that slowly rotated for no apparent reason. And mirrors, mirrors of all shapes and sizes were everywhere. What is with this guy? At least he seems to be a nice person.

Cid placed Lina on the bed and hit a button on one of the post that bore a striking resemblance to a human female's leg to stop the bed's spinning. He then began to rummage through a closet. Many things were thrown out of that closet that day, many of those things were just clothing and tools. Others still make me embarrassed just by the very thought of them. Maybe he needed those. . .uh, devises for spare parts?

Finally he found what he was looking for, a flask with what looked to be feathers inside of it. He popped the cork and shook out one feather onto the palm of his free hand.

"What is that?" I asked.

"This, my dear. . .?"

"Amelia."

"Yes, Amelia, this is Phoenix Down, a powerful Elvaan item."

"Elvaan? Oh, you mean like an Elf?"

"Uh. . .sure! Whatever you say! Anyways, this feather can bring someone back from the brink of death! It can't cure old age, of course, but it can increase the speed your body heals by about 2,302 for a brief moment."

"2,302! Wow, really?"

"I dunno. I just made that number up."

". . .."

"Okay, I'll shut up now." With that he crushed the feather in his hand and sprinkled the remains all over Lina's body.

"It may take a while for the effects to be noticed but you don't have to worry about her much anymore."

"Well, now that that is taken care of, Amelia, why don't you clean up Lina, I doubt she'll be in a good mood when she wakes up and when she finds out she has been in the same clothes for weeks it'll only compound the problem." Zelgadis ordered.

"A feisty one, eh?" Cid asked with an odd gleam in his eye.

"You have no idea."

"Anyways, Naga you go outside and grab our gear."

"Why should I, Naga the White Serpent, be reduced to the role of a handmaiden?"

"I saved a bottle of liquor in my pack, you can have it after you are done." She left before he even finished the request. What am I going to do with her? But what really surprised me was the Zelgadis actually offered her the alcohol, especially after the incident in the temple store room.

"Gari-"

"I am afraid that we must split paths for now, Mr. Zelgadis."

"Of course, your men probably need you."

"My men will be fine, they know how to take care of themselves. It is the temple crew that I am worried about. They do not know the way to the next safe house and I fear that they'll get caught up in some trouble before long, with Ragnazzo defeated and all."

"Yeah, the demons my come and investigate, in that case, farewell Captain Garirand."

"Goodbye, Mr. Garirand, may Ciephied's blessing be with you."

"Thank you all, perhaps we will meet again one day." He left without another word. I wonder if we will see him again?

"All right, Cid let's go into your, uh, captain's quarters? I have some questions that need answering."

"This way, good sir!"

They both left and I began my task of cleaning up Lina.

I followed the strange and somewhat annoying elf to his quarters. It was on the middle deck (out of three) and aft. Unlike the rest of the ship though, it wasn't garishly decorated. In fact, it was almost exactly like one would expect a captain's quarters to be like, except for the large opaque mirror in the middle of the room. What possible use could you get out of a mirror you can barely see yourself in?

Cid pulled up a couple of chair and offered me one before he sat down in his. I refused.

"So, what can I do for you Mr. Zelgadis?

"Well, for starters, you could tell me how you so easily defeated that demon." Nothing short of a Dragon Slave or a Rah Tilt, two of the most powerful spells on our world would destroy a demon of Ragnazzo's caliber, much less any weapon I have ever heard of.

"I'm so glad you asked! Have you noticed the large metal bow?"

"Uh. . .yeah." How could you miss it? Besides the large ball floating above the deck, the bow is the most noticeable part of the ship.

"That, my friend is my latest addition to my ship, the Invincible, a Makou Cannon of my own design, I call it "The Mojo Ray"!" Oh great Ciephied. This guy's personality is becoming more and more apparent by the minute.

"What's a Makou Cannon? I somehow get the feeling it doesn't use gunpowder."

"You are quite right, it uses Makou energy. A neat little energy source I discovered while. . .well, that's a long and boring story. All you need to know is that you won't have to worry much about any demon attacks here!" Long and boring story my ass. A slew of negative emotions emanated from the elf as soon as he was about to explain Makou energy. All well, it isn't anything that can't wait for the more important questions.

"What if they attack from behind?" I couldn't help bursting his bubble.

"Well, I, uh. . .indeed. . ."

"So, how did you know where to find us? You are obviously an engineer and your name is Cid. We were told to find you in a city more than a week from here."

"Well, I owed a favor to a priest and he asked me to take my ship and head south east. I wasn't quite done testing my Makou Cannon but he told me I'd have the perfect opportunity if I did as I was asked. And boy did I ever!"

"Uhg. . .this Priest? Does he have a name?"

"Yes, his name is Xellos. Friend of yours?"

"Oh yeah, I can't wait to show him my appreciation for our "timely" rescue." That son of a bitch is dead. I was so close!

"Anything else?"

I didn't get a chance to respond. Amelia burst into the room with tears in her eyes. They weren't sad tears, but instead tears of joy.

"Mr. Zelgadis! It's Ms. Lina! I think she is waking up!"

"Wha-what!?" I almost completely dropped my guard and showed my relief when she said that. But, I can't stop this facade yet. Not when I know we will be facing another demon sooner or later. I just hope it will all be worth this misery I'm putting everyone through.

Amelia dragged me to Lina's bedside, Naga was already there. If eyes were Flare Arrows, then I would be burnt to a crisp the stare Naga was giving me was so intense. She must've found out I didn't really have any booze in my pack I ignored her and instead shifted my attention to a now stirring sorceress.

She sat up abruptly her eyes wild and panicked, her emotions were doubly intense. She looked around frantically, as if searching for something (or someone), I am not really sure if she even noticed us in the room with her. She drew her legs up to her chin and wrapped her arms around herself. Then she softly whispered the most pitiful thing I have ever heard from her.

". . .Gourry. . .."

Author's Notes:

Whew. . .that took awhile, didn't it? So our not so happy group of Slayers are now being hounded by demons, that shouldn't be anything they aren't used to, right? Well, I finally intruded Cid, making many of you happy no doubt (even if he is my own Cid and not an all ready established one from the games). Stay tuned next time for more demons causing havoc, Lina's state of mind since she's woken up (finally) and a little mole-bat everyone likes to call "Mog".


	10. Chapter 9

Slayers: Final

Chapter Nine

My Hentai-Sense is Tingling!

Will the payoff be worth it?

Worth all of the anguish and pain I am putting everyone through?

Will being able to walk openly through a city street without being afraid fro myself and others solely because of my appearance be a fair trade? To be able to feel without it my senses dulled by my own accursed skin? To touch another without fear of hurting them?

Some how, without Amelia, I doubt it.

So why am I doing this? Sure I wanted to distance myself from them so I could carry out my plan easier. But now, sitting alone in this dark engine room, my only company being the loud humming from this peculiar flying ship's motor, I now have the privacy and relative quiet to analyze my behavior these last few weeks since we departed the Temple of the Fire Crystal.

Venturing into the most private depths of one's soul is never pleasant. Especially if part of yourself is wholly against your even trying. But I have to go to that revealing and naked place to find the answers to questions I fear.

Alright, I know I have gone way to far in the dealing with my friends. Hell I've flat out hurt them! But how did it get this far? Thinking back to the Fire Temple I remember I made my decision to leave after my conversation my Garirand. During the first leg of the trek to the mountains north of the desert where the temple lays I tried to distance myself from everybody, from Amelia, Naga and Garirand to even the temple personal who tried to get to know me. I rebuffed them all with hardly a thought.

That might be the problem right there. I wasn't thinking the entire time. And bu not really thinking, I let my defenses against the demon slip a bit. Then when dear Amelia came to try and help me, I must have subconsciously remembered to put my guards up and thus nearly ruining my distant facade which would have hurt my plans to leave in the long run. And of course, the demon, more than likely not in the mood for Amelia's good intentions, subtly coerced me into breaking her heart a lot sooner than I had originally planned.

I didn't even notice, but the demon has been playing me for a fool these last few weeks, causing much more trouble than I had ever intended.

But how do I stop? How do I regain control? Could I go back to Amelia? Would she even let me after all I had done to her? Demon or no, it was still me, ultimately, who made the decisions to do what I hade done. My constant tormenting of Naga, my lashing out at practically everybody and my false admission of not loving her, make convincing Amelia more than a daunting task by my measure.

Maybe if I can show her that I am at least trying to control myself, she'll soften up a bit. Maybe I can hide the fact that the demon is winning. But, if I try too hard, I risk the chance of her latching on too hard again. If that where to happen she might try to come after me when I leave, she might follow me to-

What the? I hear something. It is barely perceptible above the engine's din but. . .it is becoming louder. Is that. . .is someone crying?

There! Through the pipes I see a flash of brunette.

Lina.

She's actually out of bed! Ever since she has woken up from her coma she has been practically catatonic. She wouldn't acknowledge anyone, she would instead stare at the wall, ceiling or her bed, not really seeing anything, When we brought her food in the usually ten plate servings, she's only eaten two.

I have to get out of here. Her sheer sorrow is literally bubbling over and I do not no what will happen if I absorb too much of it. She's still stumbling her way over here, I should be able to sneak around the engine and too one of the hatches to the next deck.

Dammit! This is too much! It's growing stronger! Only a few more feet. . .but I can feel its presence smothering me like a thick, wet woolen blanket. Come on Zelgadis, you can do this. . .all you have to do is get through the hatch!

No! You are not taking over! This is MY body! I WON"T LET YOU!

"ARRRRGH!!!"

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"My, what a lovely leopard-skin throw! Where in the world did you get it?" Indeed this man has excellent taste, almost on par with I! Naga the White Serpent! This entire room, now Lina free, is a practical tapestry of skins, silks and mirrors!

"Would you like it for your bunk, Ms. Serpent?" Cid, the marvelously beautiful elf doesn't know who he is dealing with! We'll show him who's boss on this ship.

"I would have taken it anyways! It is the least you could offer in gratitude for being in the presence of one such as I!" Really, is it so much to ask of anyone?

"Well, I could show you my. . .personal collection in my room, if you would be so inclined." An odd look gleamed in those large angular eyes of his. He is up to something! Something odd by the look in his eyes!

"You are trying to sell something to me!"

"Well, no I-"

"It will not work! For I have the cunning of the agile rhinoceros and the intellect of the mighty shrew! If I see anything I fancy then I would take it as your homage to me, your new leader! Oooohohohoho!" Indeed, with Lina out of the way for the time being, I can now begin to establish myself as the new Queen of Explosions and Mayhem! But first I'll need an army of lackeys! Not just anyone Lina would pull off the common street, but beautiful and intelligent people like Cid here!

"A more beautiful sound, I have never heard!"

"Huh?"

"Your laugh! So regal and full of confidence! If I didn't know any better I would say you are a princess!"

WHACK

"Do not address me so ever again, lackey." I lost the right to that title long ago. But there are other more IMPORTANT thrones to rule now! Like that of Supreme Caster of Sorcery! One that could never freeze up in the face of adversity! One who could slay her enemies without fear of. . .One that could never let her mother die while she hide in fear her closet. . .

"Cid! I am in the mood for celebration! Take me to your finest spirits!"

"Celebration?" He was rubbing his new bump I bestowed him, in admiration of my lump giving skills, I have no doubt!

"Yes! In celebration of my soon to be ascension to the CROWN OF MAGICAL MYSTERY! Ooohohohoho!" I like that title, I think I'll rub it into Lina when she's done moping around.

"S-Sure, right this way, ma'am! Do you like brandy?"

"Oooohohohoho!" I do believe Cid and I will get along just fine!

_A bunch of guys attacking one lady is downright pathetic_

Okay, let's think this through one step at a time. There must be some perfectly logical reason why he isn't here with me right now.

_Heh. . .she's just a kid_

I was at the Temple of the Fire Crystal where everything was going honky-dory. Except for the fact that I nearly had my head caved in by a supremely pissed off demon lord.

_You look as though you could use a traveling companion. I'll go to Atlus City with you_

I must've blacked out for at least a few moments because when I woke up I was in Zel's arms and that Garirand character was fighting the BeastMaster.

_What kind of man would I be if I slept on the bed while the lady sleeps on the floor?_

Garirand got hurt, turns out he is a demon, no less.

_That time of the month, huh?_

Then. . .Gourry . . .

_You are sooo bad_

Then. . .Gourry . . .

_I know, I wish it were like this forever_

No.

_Hey Lina, maybe we should go try a desert place first?_

He promised me he'd protect me forever. He isn't the kind of guy who backs out on his word. He'll pop around the corner and say something incredibly stupid but cute like, "Hey Lina, you don't suppose they have any dragon cuisine on this flying boat-y thing, do you?" Or "All of these animal skins are making me hungry."

_So you've been hurt all this time? You weren't just watching the clouds, you had your hands full healing yourself. I'm so sorry I misunderstood. . . ._

But. . .there is no denying it.

_Fancy meeting you here, little Lady! Miss me?_

I saw him die before my eyes, trying to protect us to the end.

cough

Man, my throat is killing me.

I suppose its not too surprising, considering I've been holding back tears until I could be alone. Poor Amelia, the only reason I didn't respond to her after all she's done for me since I've been unconscious is that I would have started sobbing right then and there. I need to be strong. Gourry would've wanted me to be strong.

"ARRRRGH!!!"

What!?

Well, at least she is awake now. Which means my work load has been cut in half where she is concerned. Now I can concentrate solely on her emotional well being and no longer her physical well fare.

She seems so lost, like she has no place to go or no one to go to. I've never seen her like this before. She was very edgy when HellMaster held Gourry captive a few years ago, but at the very least, we knew he was still alive. Now, though, there can be no doubt. Poor, Miss Lina. Sure it hurts me, Gourry was always there for you, whether in righteous battle or just to listen, I'll miss that. But I can hardly fathom what must be going through Lina's head right now. Is she still in shock? Denial, maybe?

I don't know, though I tried to get her to open up soon after she woke. I don't think she knew I was talking to her for at least a few minutes. When she did realize that I had been trying to ask her how she felt, she just gave this empty look, like her soul had been torn out of her. Then, without saying a word she left, half walking, half dragging her feet.

She is really scaring me, and making me wonder if her coming out of that coma is really such a good thing. She looks like she is already dead, at least on the inside, and only a matter of time before the rest of her decides to stop living.

No.

No, I can't think like that. If I do it would mean I've given up. There must be something I can do. Maybe all she needs is time alone and in a few days, she'll snap out of her current state. Or maybe she really needs someone to talk to, even if she doesn't outwardly respond she may be listening. Or maybe-

What is that noise? Sounds like . . .giggling?

I wandered from my seat on Lina's bed over to Cid's quarters and placed my ear against the door.

There it is again! It is Gracia and . . .Cid!? What are they doing. . .alone. . .in his room!? Don't think like this Amelia. There must be a perfectly logical explanation for all of the bouncing around and giggling I hear.

Yikes! That final squeal is the last straw! This isn't the time for this kind of behavior! I'll bet Cid got my sister drunk and is now taking advantage of her! The nerve of that elf!

I backed up against the wall opposite of Cid's door, preparing myself for what I was about to see and mentally preparing a morality speech to end ALL morality speeches! I launched off the wall connecting with the door feet first, blasting the door into splinters!

I looked up from the wreckage and got a face full of feathers, temporarilly blinding me.

When my view became less obscured from the downy smoke screen I saw Gracia and Cid. . .look up blankly. . .from there interrupted. . .pillow fight.

"If you wanted to join in, you could have asked," Cid dryly stated.

"Really, Amelia, did you have to destroy such a marvelous door? It had a wonderful bas-relief of a woman entangled in serpents!" Gracia pouted.

"Those weren't serpents," Cid said.

"Right. . . but what were you doing? Having a pillow fight when our friends need us the most? I think we could be doing something a little more productive with our time! In fact-"

This time, I interrupted myself, as I noticed two tumblers of brandy -my sister's favorite- sitting on a table safely out of pillow fighting range. Two FULL tumblers! I looked hard at my sister, who was fast gathering a pillow arsenal for the next battle, and for the first time since I found her she did not have the half-defeated, half-crazed look in her eyes. For once she actually looked. . .happy. . ..

I looked over at Cid, who was also scrambling to get more pillows for his feathery armory, and noticed the same kind of contentment. He then threw the pillow as hard as he could at Gracia, catching her full on the face. Gracia just grinned and proceeded to spin her arms in a wide circular motion, launching a pillow with each rotation.

"PILLOW MACHINE GUN!" she yelled.

Oh my.

I think they are in love!

And the brandy! They haven't even touched it yet! Maybe this is all Gracia really needs? This is so awesome!

I was about to join in the feather filled but then the room was struck silent by a scream, of rage and pain. It was Zelgadis! And coming from the engine room, I think!

"Guys! Be quiet! I think I heard something from the engine room!" I yelled over there rising din.

"The engine room? Who'd be down there? There is nothing but the uh. . .engine." Cid said.

Without another word we ran to the engine room, praying that it isn't another demon. We made it to the hatch and I cast protection spells on everyone. From within the closed hatch, we could here something thrashing around and then a scream. Lina's scream!

Cid, didn't wait another second, he threw open the hatch and dived down head first, and ended up hitting the deck. Head first. Gracia and I came down the more conventional way, the ladder well. Gracia hauled Cid to his feet and smacked his already sore head in mild frustration, we then started quickly down the dark pipe lined halls.

As we moved in closer, the thrashing noise grew louder and was now accompanied by growling and occasional gasps of pain. Lina's whimpering grew louder also. Lina never whimpers, even in the face of death, not even when Gourry died. This realization made run even faster, not because of the danger involved (as it couldn't be that terrible) but because of Lina's current emotional state. I don't think she can handle much more stress before she completely loses it, or worse.

We turned the corner and what we saw made my heart collapse on itself. It wasn't just Lina, who was curled up in a ball half-sobbing half-shrieking, backed up against a piped clogged corner. No, it was whom Lina was screeching at, Mr. Zelgadis. He was writhing on the floor in obvious agony. Horns had sprouted on top of his forehead, strange protrusions were visible, ahh, protruding through his clothing at his shoulder blades and the backside of his trousers.

I motioned Naga over to Lina, who complied without question (thankfully).

"Cid," I said, "I need you to hold him down before he hurts someone or himself. I'm going to try something."

"Any ideas, on how to go about THAT?" he gestured to the convulsing Zel and rethought my plan of attack. Maybe this will work?

"Slow Time!" My spell worked perfectly. Mr. Zelgadis's body slowed down considerably, having an almost comedic effect as his balance and center of gravity seemed to be unaffected, making him seem as if he were underwater. He was slowed enough that Cid had no trouble tying poor Zel up to stop him from thrashing completely.

Now, what to do about this. . ..

SNAP!

His ropes! Has the spell been broken already!?

"ARRRRGH!" With a sick tearing sound, large bat-like wings erupted from Zelgadis's back, tearing through his shirt and mantel, making everyone, me included, involuntarily take a few steps back. But, the shock was only brief for me, and I ran to his again writhing form, trying to gather him in my arms, trying to tell him it is all right. But, it isn't alright, not by a long shot.

I was promptly thrown aside by another new appendage, a tail! A tail with a barbed tip. Along with his wings and horns he now looks almost exactly like a Brow Demon.

Oh, Mr. Zelgadis! I didn't know it was THIS bad! I should've tried harder to help you find your cure! I should've helped you more, even if it meant alienating your privacy! I should done something to stop . . .this from happening. He finally stopped thrashing, collapsing onto the deck unconscious.

"What the hell just happened?" Asked a visibly shaken Cid.

"I don't know. I've only seen something like this once before." Valgaav the half demon-dragon sprouted wings and scales when he attacked us at the Temple of the Fire Dragon. Maybe there is some connection? Maybe Ms. Lina knows something.

Lina was now on her feet, being supported by Gracia, looking very frightened at Zelgadis.

What the hell just happened!?

I heard a scream, and rushed down the corridor only to find Zel yelling in agony. But that isn't the worse of it, no siree. He actually looked like he blamed ME for what was happening to him. Even in his barely coherent state he actually attacked me, his teeth gnashing and fist swinging. I couldn't fight back, not against Zel. I was too afraid. What if he simply didn't recognize me? What if I had defended myself and he suddenly came back to his senses, realizing what he had done would probably have just added to his already substantial emotional burden.

So, instead I just coward. Me, the "great" Lina Inverse, enemy of all who live coward in the corner, waiting for Gourry to come help me. Gourry didn't come though, and I find myself supported by none other than Naga who is looking disturbingly wistful. What's up with her?

Staring down at the unconscious Zel, Amelia hoarsely whispers "What happened?"

I told her what I could in a pitifully broken voice. She then suddenly broke down like no one I have ever seen before, sobs racking her body.

Naga quickly went to her sister but in her rush she forgot about little ol' me and I quickly crumpled to the floor. I didn't have the energy or the desire to move, and I quickly fled to deep slumber, the place where all you can eat restaurants line the streets, bandits patiently wait their turn for me trash, and where Gourry is still alive.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the late update but college has been murdering my time. But you could probably already tell that by these horribly rushed last few chapters. But do not worry! I am in the process of revising each and every chapter to make them all as good as the first 3 or 4. For those who think this story is getting way too depressing, be patient, things will start to look up in the next chapter. Sorry for the lack of Mog but this chapter went in a completely different direction than I had in mind. See ya's next time.

Tom the Mighty.


	11. Chapter 10

Slayers: Final

Chapter Ten

The Machinations of Cid and the Demon that broke Wind

We arrived at my humble abode shortly after that freaky incident with that Zeldegas (is that his name?)character. I don't know who these people are, or where the nine hells they came from, but man! Do they have baggage! One guy is a weird rock man that thinks he's a demon, one of the girls is either frighteningly depressing or unconscious and the other thinks that she HAS to help everyone, all the time, at the SAME time!

But, at least there is some normalcy in this freak show. Her beauty is like none I have seen before, not even crown Princess Miriel of the Elvaan can match her radiance (sorry toots! You know I love ya!). But beyond her angelic physique lies a mind of as great a caliber as my own! Her sheer genius in the arts mirrors and compliments my own gift in engineering perfectly! I haven't been this excited this the time I discovered the Clitorians of the planet Labius Minor! (Oh you laugh, but I know better! And so will she. . .hehehe.) Oh, wondrous Naga! Could you finally be the one I have been looking for!

"Oh, Ciddy-boy! Are you not going to show me around?", the captor of my heart chimed.

"Yes dear!"

Okay, that's enough terrible romantic fiction for now! I have to show in my guest!

I woke up not long after we had landed, a little sore but no worse for wear. Naga was calling us out, and I assume we are at Cid's place now. Really for lack of anything better to do I obliged Naga and made my way out of the ship. Maybe taking in something new would keep me from thinking about. . .other things.

What I saw next as I descended from the Invincible's ramp could only be described as. . .a junkyard.

Seriously there was no rhyme or reason to the garbage, broken machinery and rusted baubles strewn about the place. But in the center of the seemingly tornado blown messed was a well kept log and metal cabin. It was slightly oblong and looked as if it might tip over, but, as I said, it was clean and junk free.

At least that is what I thought until I went inside.

In Casa de Cid, as the Elf dubbed it, was hardly any different from the inside of his flying ship. Innuendo as far as the eye could see, which wasn't far as the house was only roughly the size of four or five rooms your average Inn. The only real difference between the ship and the house was that fully half of the dwelling was a dedicated workshop, but even that had various paintings with lewd images and devises of dubious intentions. If the elf wasn't so useful I'd probably ran far, far away by now. But, I'll guess I'll have to put up with his. . .eccentricities for now.

And besides, Naga seems to like him. I guess people with diseased brains to attract to each other.

Stopping my musing, I started to pay attention to Cid's tour along with Amelia, a very miserable looking Zel and Naga who was practically molesting Cid by the placement of her hands. . .ew. No surprise Cid doesn't seem to mind.

". . .as you can see here, many of my inventions may one day revolutionize the world!" he was getting more and more animated either because he was genuinely excited about his work, or because of Naga's progressively lowering hands. "Ever get tired of the drudgery and hardship of using your own two feet to walk?"

"No," was the unanimous response.

"Well here is a device that walks FOR you!" he continued unfazed.

He then proceeded to climb into his work, which looked like the lower half of a wooden puppet with a seat were the waist should start. Most curious about it were the long poles extruding from the calves of the machine extending to up past the seat on either side.

Once seated he grasped the poles and began to pump his arms vigorously, making the legs slowly part surly move along in a plodding pace. It looked rather difficult, actually.

After a few minutes of watching Cid move an amazing 5 feet since he started I calmly walked over to the supposed genius. I shot him a cute wink and beckoned him to lean down lower as if I was going to tell him something.

I didn't say anything personally but my fist said his "invention" was rather silly and needed more work. I caught Amelia smiling at my opinion of Cid's handiwork.

"Yes? Amelia?" I asked.

"Oh, it's nothing Miss Lina. It's just nice to have you back." She then turned to the ever despondent Zel and I thought I caught a glimmer of hope in her eyes. Zel didn't respond in any way what so ever. What happened between those two, anyways?

"Um, yeah. Ok, your welcome?" I haven't been acting THAT weird have I? Wait, don't answer that. It may be true that I have been a little depressed as of late (who wouldn't be if your best friend just died), but that is no reason for me to completely change is it? Sure it still hurts terribly when I think of Gourry, it will for a long time I think. But I'm not about to let it rule my thoughts or my actions! Gourry wouldn't want me to be like that and quite frankly, neither do I.

"On to my next invention," jibber-jabbered Cid while rubbing his new cranial protrusion. "This here is a torch that uses the power of the sun to create light!" I did not know where to begin to explain how silly that sounded to me.

Cid produced a small cylinder with once closed end and one glass end. On the tube's surface were strange, slightly reflective black squares dotting it. He then clicked a button on the tube and low and behold, a light sprung forth.

"Hey, that is pretty impressive." It was! It thought it'd be worthless like the walking machine, but this could actually prove to be useful as we haven't come across anything resembling an Illumination spell yet.

"Way to go, Ciddy-boy!" Naga said, while increasingly proving that she is what she dresses like, much to Cid's enjoyment no doubt.

"Not bad, huh?" beamed Cid, while silently encouraging Naga much to our, especially Amelia, mounting disgust.

Then the light went out.

"Well that was stupid," The up till now quiet Zelgadis stated.

"Mr. Zelgadis! That wasn't very nice of you!" Amelia said.

"Yeah, well I'm not feeling particularly nice right now," replied Zel.

"Well, that doesn't mean you should make other people feel bad! Look where it's gotten you so far!"

"What does it matter to you!"

"I'm worried about you!"

"Yeah well. . ."

It went on like this for a few more minutes with Zel and Amelia playing verbal badminton. One lobbed one vocal bombshell while the other retaliated with another. It was getting pretty nasty, I mean brutal. Zel called Amelia a head case that should visit a shrink herself before trying to solve other people's problems and Amelia called Zel a pompous jerk with a head like a rock (I wonder if she did that on purpose? Nah.) It all came to a head when a new voice interrupted us.

"The Beast Master was defeated by this!" We all turned and looked about for the owner of the said voice. It was pretty, and definently belonged to a woman.

_Or something resembling a woman. . ._

The next thing I knew was being knocked to the ground by something powerful. And I don't mean inside Cid's house ground. Everyone was knocked clean out of the cabin and strewn about like the junk populating the yard.

I got up as quickly as I could for fear of another attack. But my fears were put on hold as I saw that our assailant (who was a woman by the way) sitting patiently on the bow of a half completed ship waiting for us to get up and collect ourselves. She was very shapely, enough to give Naga a run for her money, with voluminous blonde hair that seemed to be floating as if caught in a gentle breeze, despite their being no wind whatsoever. Almost in spite of her beauty the woman's face was devoid of any emotion or expression of any kind.

_Why that arrogant bitch!_

"What is she another demon?" asked a slightly freaked out Cid.

"I dunno, not many people could blow away a house like that but it could be an attack spell," I replied uncertainly. Everyone began to group together, which gave me a very bad feeling.

"Too easy," the demon stated, still with out expression.

A small tornado appeared before us, tugging our clothes and whipping our hair. As uncomfortable as that was, the vortex wasn't powerful enough to lift us up off the ground, what could she be planning with this semi-impressive display?

The it hit me. A steel pipe that is, dislodge from its previous resting place by the wind. I dropped instantly for the pipe knocked my breathe out. And it hurt, really, really bad. It's enough to piss off a girl. The I got caught on the head! Which sent me sprawling a few yards away. I covered my wound my left hand and it came away with some blood and one of my birthmark moles!

_Damn it._

I looked around and saw no one save Zel fairing no better. Amelia seemed to be chased by a lawn chair and judging by her screaming, a ferocious lawn chair. Naga was looking ridiculous holding up Cid like a shield to deflect debris, and Cid seemed to think the whole thing was ridiculous to by his expression. Not Zelly-boy though. He stood resolutely in the path of the junk deluge. The metal and wood hail bouncing off of his stone skin with 'chink' and 'clunk' noises.

The demon, halted the storm as she soon realized she wasn't going to kill us so easily. That or she got bored, because she could have killed most of us like that, as we weren't moving any where with that wind.

"This is no fun," the demon tut-tuted, which looked pretty wooden without any emotion still. "Attack me. This would be a bore and a chore if you guys didn't make things interesting."

_Happy to oblige ya, missy!_

"Fira!" I launched my spell and twin streams of flame helixed around the demon, engulfing her in the caustic gas.

"Hahaha!" I boasted. So much for the blustery boob!

"Hahaha!" a familiar voice boasted! Hey, I thought I saw a smile there!

_Whoops. Laughed too soon. . .._

The wind began to pick up again and the fire smothering the demon was smothered by her strong gusts.

"That's it? Surely the ones who defeated a Demon Lord can do better! Eyaah!" She launched a concussive blast of wind and it was headed straight for me! No time to get out of the way!

"Reflect!" Amelia cried out from across the junkyard.

The spell bounced off from an invisible force just infront of me and rebounded back towards the demon. Which of course did nothing to her.

"This is getting old, I Valvalis will finish you off with but one 'blow'!" Again with the icky demon humor.

"Just like Mistress Kari destroyed that blonde fool!"

_WHAT!_

I cast the reflect spell just in time and Lina was saved! While it is nice that the right spells come up at the right time, I wish that I could actually know the spells before hand instead of getting jerked around like this.

The demon started to boast, by the tone of her voice, and Lina is. . .what? She isn't doing anything. She can't just be doing nothing! Not with her life in danger like this! Oh great the demon is casting some type of spell! Shoot! I don't have any power left in me! I spent it all trying to protect everyone from that wind storm.

I looked around to see if anyone else could help Lina in time. Gracia and Cid look like they are trying to untangle themselves, not good! Gracia is always good for a distraction! Ack! Now I'm started to think like Miss Lina, again!

Who else? Mr. Zelgadis! Just a few dozens yards away from Lina, and he is preparing an attack! But the demon looks almost done too! Ah, screw it! I know it probably won't work, but I'll try it anyways!

I reached for my bow and notched an arrow, pulled and took aim. Then an idea came to mind. Concentrating on the arrow I prayed to the remaining Crystals and holy energy charged into it until it glowed a pure white. I let loose and it struck the demon just below her right shoulder, making her misfire her spell into the air, and it was a big one!

Just then, Mr. Zelgadis charged into attack mode as well, his fists ablaze with power. He launched into the demon with untold fury, landing a few dozen punches and lighting fast kicks before the demon probably knew she was being assailed by him.

Shoot! I wish my martial arts skills were that good! Finally his attack was over and he slumped away from what I thought was exhaustion. I ran over to him in a hurry, intent on getting him away from the demon before she fully recovered. As I got closer and could get a better look at him, my heart nearly stopped and my legs failed me. Mr. Zelgadis was crisscrossed with thin lines of crimson.

_Blood._

"Not too shabby, you just made number one on my list of people to kill!" She then zoomed over to Zelgadis and began to repay his attack with an miasmatic blast!

Oh, crap! Miasmatic blasts short out a living creatures bioelectric system! I don't know if Zelgadis's stone skin can defend against something like that!

The attack buzzed its way to my fallen friend with unerring accuracy and hit with a weird wuzzing sound. But, Zelgadis was no longer there! He had simply vanished! I looked around, but I couldn't find him anywhere.

_Thwip!_

Mr. Zelgadis suddenly appeared behind the demon woman and attacked!

"Wuuaahg!" the demon groaned. But she wasn't defeated yet, unfortunately. She pushed through the pain and reached around and grabbed Zelgadis by his wings.

"Your hands may be free, but you won't be zipping around on me like that again! Let's see how you look without these pretty wings!" She began to pull and I heard stone cracking and Mr. Zelgadis cried out in pain!

"No." Miss Lina! She glowed like gold once again, just like when Gourry died, but something was different. Gone was the unthinking rage, her face showed it was replaced with grim determination. "No, I won't let you hell spawned freaks take anyone else important away from me! Eyaaah!" A flash of black streaked from Lina to the demon and the demon's arm fell away spewing black miasma. The demon also dropped Zelgadis who slunk away as fast as he could. I cast a haste spell, and he relatively quickly made it back to my side. I cast a small cure spell on him as I could feel some of my powers coming back.

"Bitch! How dare you! Do you have any idea who you are messing with!" screeched the incensed demon. "I could destroy every single one of you and not even Bardradigdo could discover all the pieces!"

"Maybe," Lina calmly replied, "But I am more powerful than you." With that hundreds of tiny black needles shot forth from Lina's outstretched hands and they pierced the demon dozens at a time! There was nothing the devil could do, she writhed in obvious agony as the needles went in and through her. Eventually, there was nothing left but black miasma, slowly dissipating into the clear sky.

Lina, then fell down to her knees, breathing hard, as if she just ran a marathon.

"Miss Lina! Are you okay?" She looked at me, smiled and winked. I noticed that the left side of her fore head had a nasty gash that took away one of her moles. I quickly chanted a light healing spell and the wound closed up, but the mole wouldn't regenerate.

"What did you do?" Zelgadis asked, "I hit her with all my power, but I could barely scratch her. Yet you completely obliterated her with ease!"

"You call that easy?" Lina, said between breaths "That took almost everything I had and more! Plus, I don't think I would have been able to do that if the bitch hadn't. . ." she faltered just a little bit, "hadn't insulted Gourry. That, along with Zel almost getting himself killed is what gave me the anger and determination I needed to do that just now."

"Still, that was very impressive. Makes me wonder if any of us will have any use." Zelgadis replied.

"Hahaha, yeah, my power is getting pretty ridiculous, isn't it? But I don't think I'll be of much help to you guys anytime soon. I'm pretty wiped."

"As much after you defeated Shabranigdo?"

"No, but pretty close. The freak we just fought, wasn't anywhere near as powerful as good ol' Ruby Eyes, but she was still a pain in the ass." she looked around for a brief moment. "Hey? Where is Naga and Cid?"

Crap! How could I forget about my only sister! What if she's hurt or something! We immediately set out to find them. I went on ahead as Lina used Zelgadis for support so they weren't covering as much ground as I would've liked, but it really couldn't be helped.

I was scaling to the top of a junk pile when I heard it. I weak whisper that sounding like 'Cid'. Groaning soon followed. I traced the sound and it soon became louder, it was Cid and Gracia's voices! They really sounded like they were hurt bad! I rounded the next junk pile to where I believed them to be and saw what no one should ever see under any circumstances.

"EEEEEK!"

"Amelia!" Zel started and began to head in the shriek's origin with myself in tow. We were both pretty weak, but we made it just in time to join in with a horrified Amelia watch a half naked Cid and Naga untangle themselves from each other.

_I think I'm going to be sick. . ._

"Ridiculous," Zel derisively snorted.

"Uh, wha, huh?" Amelia articulated

Cid and Naga for there part, stumbled around several excuses and explanations all at once. It was pretty funny watching them ad lib and contradict each other but I had to put a stop to it.

"Oh no, you don't have to explain why you two decided to fuck instead of help us. I understand perfectly."

"You do! Thanks a bu-!" My fist dropped him to the floor faster than a prone and naked Naga EVER could.

"YOU IDIOTS! We REALLY could have used YOUR help back there!"

"Don't act so jealous, Lina! I knew that demon wasn't going to be much of a challenge, even for you," Naga explained sans logic.

_If you die coupling with that elf Naga, I'm going to laugh!_

"Regardless of what you thought the situation was Gracia and Cid, what you two did was sick, on top of being the wrong place at the wrong time!" Always a gift for the understatement, that Amelia.

"Oh, come on! Things turned out ok, didn't they?" Cid complained while massaging yet another new bump. Maybe I should start calling him Lumpy?

"I guess," I replied, "But that is no excuse! We should all work as a team, especially since not all of us can single handedly take out a demon!" I had to throw that in there. "So leave the hanky-panky in the bedroom, freaks!"

"So now what?" Zel said, obviously a little tired of our own personal porn star's antics.

"I say we should salvage what we can from Cid's place and take off. Maybe we can find the next temple if we do some aerial reconnaissance." I wasn't sure if that would really work, but we don't really have anything else to go on right now. Maybe Xellos will show up again sometime soon with more info. Sheesh! I'm actually hoping for Xellos to show up! What the hell is happening to me?

Author's notes

Hey! Remember me? I used to do regular updates! But then I got burned out on this story and had to try something new. Go check it out! It's called Slayers: Knightfall. I am sorry that I took so long in updating this though. Soon we'll get things back into full swing, with a new chapter every three or four weeks. What will happen next to our weary adventurers! Will Zel finally see his plan into fruition? Will Amelia do the impossible and solve all the world's problems? Will Cid and Naga get a room? And will Lina fully come to terms with the death of her beloved swordsman? Stay tuned next time for Slayers: Final!

Tom the Might, out!


	12. Chapter 12

Slayers: Final

Chapter Eleven

When Hope Shines Brightest. . .

Up in the crow's nest, staring at the deck so far below (and the ground even further still!)feeling the wind tug at your hair, and basking in the warming sun. It almost made me forget about the last few weeks. Made me almost forget about the fights, the pain, the worry and the disturbing image of your sister getting busy with someone she'd practically just met. Instead, all I have been thinking about is how to make things better.

Miss Lina is still broken up about poor Mr. Gourry, though she has been getting better. She still has her vomiting and sobbing fits though. . . . but at least she isn't letting it get in the way of her goals. . . .whatever they may be. She's been locking herself away for long periods of time in the ship's main cargo hold. At first I thought she was just grieving, but then things started to explode.

It's becoming very obvious that Lina is developing new spells with her new found powers. And by the way Cid been working himself up over the repair bill for his "baby", I'd say she's finding at least some success at it.

I leaned back in the crow's nest and put my feet up and over the edge, letting them dangle as I looked up into the blue beyond.

I sighed a little raggedly.

I wish I could develop a spell to erase everyone's troubles away. To make Mr. Zelgadis' problems go away. He hasn't talked to anyone since we left Cid's place a week ago. He hasn't necessarily been avoiding anyone, as he is almost always in plain view. But, whenever I came over to try and make small talk with him. . .he. . .it's like he doesn't even realize that I am there. He just jots away at his map, adding an ever increasing amount of carefully replicated terrain and perfectly penned notes.

He's obsessed with something, and not just his cartography. He still may not realize it, but he is incredibly easy to read, even for me, not the most perceptive girl in the world. It began after we left the temple of the fire crystal and its been getting worse ever since. I'm getting so sick of this!

I hopped out of the nest and slid down a rope. Upon reaching the bottom I headed over to where Mr. Zelgadis usually is these days, the bow of the ship. And sure enough there he was, logging away as if possessed.

I approached him and like the times before, didn't so much as breath differently at my arrival. It still hurts.

"Still mapping away, Mr. Zelgadis?" Which probably sounded to him 'Still breathing, Mr. Zelgadis?', if he even bothered to listen to me at all. Still, he didn't respond.

"Ms. Lina is getting better, you know. At least somebody around here knows how to accept the things life throws at them," I said, oozing a little bit a venom in my words. If understanding and patients doesn't work, maybe sarcasm and belittlement will. "You think you can handle everything all by yourself, don't you? Well look where it has gotten you!" I gestured at his wings even though he still hasn't turned around and faced me, I hope it carried through in my voice.

"Whether you care enough to realize it or not, we are here for you Zel! Not even Lina is rock headed enough to turn away help to the point where it hurts!" I may as well been talking to the deck for all Zelgadis was obviously paying to me. I can't take this! My sadness was quickly becoming anger and I let it. I had to feel something other than sorrow, and I didn't care what it was about to make me do.

I am so very tired of this. . .. My mouth tastes like pizza and orange juice mixed together and my throat is raw. My head feels like 11 and a half monkeys have been playing a drum solo inside. Sometimes I just want to shrivel up and fade away. . .

But I'm NOT going to let that happen. Not while the freaks responsible for Gourry's death are still happily alive. So, to keep the noggin' from soggin' I've been experimenting and tweaking the new powers the Fire Crystal bestowed to us.

I've been keeping the power low, so that I don't completely blow up the ship, and to keep Cid from blowing up on me. My studies have been proving more or less fruitful. I've discovered that you can tweak the spells a little bit. Not as much as you can back home but its better than nothing.

I'm not sure, but I think I've got something big brewing here! I just need more time to study and tweak. Hopefully, those demon-bastards will continue to play keep away like they hav-

The ship bucked and trembled and I landed painfully on my bum but no worse for wear.

"Well speak of the devil," I almost wittily quipped to myself.

More than ready to kick some ass, I ran up the ladder well to the deck and found Zel (who looked absolutely torn about something) and Amelia already facing down the. . . two headed dragon in fishnet stockings casually pacing the ship.

I'm serious, stop laughing.

As well as having fishnet stockings the freak wore makeup, excessive makeup on both of her? Its? His? Faces. Whatever the gender, it was definently mazoku. It literally stank of foul miasma.

_Find some mitchum, stinko!_

Cid and Naga joined us a moment later, both more out of breath than they should've been from just running from their cabin. Cid's pants were on backwards too, it was quite the fashion statement. Yes, I too, am going to wear my pants backwards.

But not really.

The cranium +2 equipped dragon crammed its bulk onto the deck of the ship causing it to dip a little. Wood splintered beneath its man sized toes. Its four eyes glared at us, promising menace.

And here are all of you thinking, "Why, Lina? Why don't you use that new attack spell you've been blowing yourself up over for the last few days?". Well kiddies, the answer is simple: I don't want to die just this yet.

Remember the Dragon Slave? Of course you _do_. Now what I have in mind is something akin to making the Dragon Slave seem like a bout of explosive diahrea. Not something I want to test fire at point blank range on a flimsy wooden boat that happens to be flying a few thousand feet in the air.

"Ha!" Naga suddenly spouted. "Even with thrice as many heads and twice as much makeup you've still a ways to go before you can match wits with Naga the White Serpent!" The dragon just blinked, more than a little confused.

_It seems we've finally found some common ground in Human/Mazoku relations._

"No one can match wits with you Naga," I said and she haughtily threw back her shoulders knocking Cid on his ass in the process, "Only because everyone else is waaaay ahead of you." I continued under my breath.

"Excuse me. . .?" The mighty mazoku boomed in a faux-feminine voice. "Have you seen or heard of a group that has killed off the Beast Master and Valvalis? I've been looking for a while now, but then I remembered something: I have like no idea what they look like! I mentioned this to Lord Krakken but he was all like "Hell if I know, I'd think you'd know them if you see them" So I was like. . . "

And so it went on like that for another few minutes all the while our mouths agape with shock. This was obviously a high ranking demon. Its power was almost overwhelming my senses, but its grey matter. . .not so much.

Cid was first, surprisingly, to interrupt the gabby draggy.

"Miss? I think I know of whom you are referring too." He said and I fervently hoped he wasn't selling us out. . .or else I just might try that new spell earlier than planned.

"You do! That would be like, so awesome! I've been looking fo-"

"Y-yes! And that's why I'd like to help! I know what it is like looking for someone for long periods of time without ever knowing if you are going to find her. . ." He glanced meaningfully at Naga who blushed and acted like a school girl who was caught starring at the popular jock. "Anyways! The man you are looking for, yes a single man, is . . ."

"Is what?" The demon prompted, thoroughly enraptured with Cid for some reason.

"Is a giant of a man, maybe fifteen feet tall, with blonde hair and sunglasses. He wears all red and carries a huge gun. He was last seen some one hundred iles east of here in the mountains."

"The mountains! Ah man!" the drag-on bemoaned. "It's gonna take forever finding anyone in _those_ crags! What did I do to deserve this?" She carried on and on about how nobody loved her (I'm just saying "her" as I don't really know or want to) and how she always got the tough jobs as she lifted off the ship and gullibly flew off in the direction Cid pulled out of his elven arse.

A short while later I was on the bow of the ship looking down at the world below when I heard what sounded like a crash at the stern. Being the nosey snoop I am, I ran to investigate.

"DAMMIT ALL!" Zel screamed, his first words in quite a while I guessed. He was stomping around tearing out some of the railing in a blind rage.

"What is it Zelgadis?" Amelia worriedly asked, she was expertly hopping down the crows nest, using her natural agility to land safely on the deck.

"Another chance gone. . ." Zel spoke, not even looking at her.

"What are you doing?" Cid suddenly crashed through the Captains Cabin. "You're making the Invincible even LESS safe!"

Amelia ignored the elf. "What chance? What are you talking about?"

"Nothing." Zel said in a detatch sort of way that made me wince for some reason.

"Don't give me that. . .that _bullshit!_" Amelia grated out and I nearly pissed my drawers. What the hell's been going on these last few weeks? Amelia never swears! Much less at "Mr. Zelgadis"!

Zel might've twitched a little but his reply, if any, was cut short by a sudden dragon shaped shadow appearing on the deck. I turned around and wasn't terribly surprised when I saw Puff the Magic Dragon back from her magical journey to Suckersville.

"Are you sure it was east?" the dragon asked.

"Yes!" We all said in unison. If it worked once before, why not a second time?

And it did!

The demon flew off once more in pursuit of the phantom menace. Leaving us to our own problems once more. The way Amelia was looking made me think ol' Zelly boy was better off facing the demon. Yikes!

Amelia stomped around, obviously frustrated and angry.

"Don't you realize that we're here to help! I'm here to help you!" she shouted in Mr. Indifferent's face.

"Don't you know your hurting us!" she continued, pitch increasing to excruciating levels.

_You maybe, I don't think anyone can hurt me as much as when Gourry was taken away. _

"Where's the justice in all this! Mr. Zelgadis, you are becoming a villain of the worst kind! The kind that hurts your own friends for no apparent reason! We may not know what it is like to have a body like yours but you don't have to take out your frustrations on us. . .,"

She went on like this for a few more minutes, the rest of us sitting back watching the show, taking bets on if and when Zelgadis will finally crack. Or if Amelia will regress even more into making her rant into a justice speech.

Then all hell broke loose.

_Krakoooow!_ An explosion rang through my ears and wooden debris rattled to the deck. I looked up and saw main mast was gone, tumbled over into the clouds. And the source, well. . .do I even have to tell you?

"So!" the demon dragon bellowed, "You thought you could fool me twice!" She shrieked and then proceeded to tear apart the other masts, wildly shaking the ship and generally making me want to vomit.

"Dammit! She's hurting my baby!" Cid screamed while he pulled out his gun and began to unload on the demon.

Instead of just firing one shot and then reloading like Zel's pistol, Cid's could shoot dozens of rounds before he ejected a banana shaped container from the barrel and reload with another. Pretty neat but how does it do against demons?

"Haha! Pinpricks!" the dragon boasted.

Not very much I gather.

"Who are you calling a prick?" Naga shouted while preparing a spell. "Dog of Fire! Show our enemy the meaning of Hell! Ifrit!"

With the completion of Naga's summoning spell, demonic looking, anthropomorphic dog covered in flames popped out of nowhere in mid air just port of the deck. He looked at the dragon with contempt and then promptly fell from the sky disappearing from view. We all looked expectedly (including the perfumed lizard) at Naga who just stood there smiling confidently.

"Ya crazy bitch!" A deep and slightly pissed voice called out from below. "Next time ya do that say something!"Ifrit appeared floating above the dragon, magical fire igniting from his long, goat like horns.

"Oooh, that's different." the demon murmured.

"Hell Fire!" Ifrit roared, releasing his spell, a shower of sparks and embers engulfed the area. And when I say "the area" I meant the ship too! The demon was dancing was playing hot potato and the deck was being burned torn to shreds! Ifrit, his spell complete, disappeared for good this time.

Cid looked as if he was about to cry while Amelia was using the opportunity to sneak up behind the demon using her float spell. Zelgadis looked as if he didn't know what to do, a first for him.

I, on the other hand, was preparing a spell while all this was going on as well. It's not the big one but I think it'll hurt the tranny tyrant at least a little.

"Blizzard!"

Frozen crystal formed around the dragons feet, accidently gluing her onto the remains of the still amazingly flying, but smoking ship.

So my aim isn't that great yet. At least she won't escape anytime soon.

"Arggh!" A trio of arrows, courtesy of Amelia stuck in the back of the lizard's second (or was it first?) head. "You little bitch!" She growled and she began to rock her body, tossing the ship, and us, to and fro, probably trying to dislodge herself.

While she couldn't free herself, she did manage to shake off a propeller! The ship listed suddenly to port and we almost got flung overboard.

This is bad. We haven't done any real damage to it yet! We'll be jelly on the pavement before we killed the thing!

I caught a glint of something shiny in the distance. Another airship? No, it was too small, unless birds got lazy and decided to build airships too. I heard Amelia gasp and thought her injured. Turns out she also saw the glint and was pointing in the sky in shock. With her better vantage point she must've known what it was.

"What is it Amelia?" I shouted her way. Zel, Naga and Cid were pummeling away at the stuck monster, trying to keep her from shaking the continually disintegrating ship anymore.

Amelia looked at me with a bizarre series of facial expressions ranging from shocked to ecstatic.

_Ok. . . she must've forgotten her pills or something._

The glint got closer and I saw Xellos. My heart skipped a beat. NO! Not for Xellos, the late bastard, but what he was carrying along in his flight.

Now directly above the dragon Xellos let loose his package of wondrous wonderfulness and he called out words that made me wanna laugh, cry and shout for joy all at the same time.

"Light come forth!"

I settled for getting weak kneed and falling on my ass.

With his command, the hilt in Gourry Gabriev's hands shot forth a pillar of light the length of a broad sword with which he swiftly sliced off one of the bewildered dragon's heads as he descended to the torn up deck.

"G-G-Gou. ." that's all I could get out as I stumbled over to his confidently standing form.

He turned and smiled, "Hey there Little Lady, miss me?"

Before I could choke out a reply, the demon with -1 heads tore herself loose with most of the ship with it. The snarling, whimpering beast flew off and we flew down. Like rocks.

Gourry and I grabbed each other instinctively, holding each other as like this was the end. Amelia may be able to save herself with her float spell but I doubted she could get to us all. Zel is probably putting his wings to good use as well.

It was a strange feeling falling from so far up in the sky. With Gourry in my arms it seemed, oddly enough, like heaven. Like flying without direction, just the feel of the wind and uninhibited freedom. I couldn't have picked a better way to die, I thought and I held onto him all the tighter, burying my head into his chest.

Gourry unwrapped one arm from around me and before I could protest the ruination of the greatest/saddest moment of my short life our fall slowed. . .and eventually stopped.

For a moment I thought we hit ground and were now floating away to the afterlife. I looked up and saw that Gourry was holding onto something. That something was a metal bar and the bar was connected to some kind of vessel!

We were saved! But by who?

The ship gently took off and with Gourry's strong arm attached to it I felt no fear of falling. I looked around and saw that the others were similarly saved as well. From this vantage point I could see that the ships were little more than vertically positioned cylinders with propellers on top. The pilot of each one (four altogether) sat in an exposed cockpit at about the middle of the contraption's body.

I could see Cid and Naga holding on to their ships landing strips, while Amelia and Zel flew by themselves, escorted by the other two flying machines.

With our immediate peril put on hold, I started to run the gamut questions about Gourry's impossible return. But. . .I couldn't speak. I guess I didn't want to ruin the mystery. It was better just remembering him descending from the heavens and back into my arms. That's all I needed to know for now.

We flew west and up, breaking cloud cover and making us cold. I started to shiver and Gourry held on to me even tighter. A storm cloud stood stationary in the distance. Which was odd, as how many storm clouds do you know stay stationary? It was fairly windy up here and the clouds below were definitely moving. We broke for the cloud, presumably our destination.

A voice spoke to me.

"Welcome Lina Inverse. Welcome to the Temple of Wind. . . "

Tom the Mighty's Mighty Notes.

I'll take a stab at fate and saw only one person is going to review this! Talk about late updates. . . .


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